7 Days, Come What May
by Black Mischief
Summary: It's Naruto's birthday and he has 1 week to go party with his friends at the Konoha Hot Springs! Sakura, Sasuke, Gaara, and other people are also invited! Usual Pairings. COMPLETE! Enjoy!
1. The Invitations

**7 Days, Come What May**

_**Chapter I: The Invitations**_

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were sitting eating ramen in their usual spot at their usual restaurant when the Hokage of their village, Tsunade, came up to them. Sakura and Sasuke looked up in greeting at the Fifth as Naruto continued to eat his ramen, not noticing that someone had come over to their table.

"Hi," Sakura greeted her Hokage and smiled as Sasuke simply nodded his head in recognition.

Naruto noticed the woman standing in front of him at last.

"HI, HOOHADAY! (Hi, Tsunade)," he practically shouted with his mouth full of food.

"Naruto! Don't talk with your mouth full!" Sakura reprimanded and turned to look apologetically at the Hokage.

Tsunade smiled in reassurance to the pink haired girl then turned to Naruto.

"Naruto, your birthday's coming up in two days, isn't it?" Tsunade asked, smiling.

The blonde boy immediately swallowed his ramen. His eyes widened in excitement.

"Oh, YEA! How could I forget that! Yahoo! Hey, old hag-" Naruto suddenly stopped when he saw the murderous look on the Fifth's face. "Urrrm…I meant…BEAUTIFUL Tsunade-sama, don't tell me you came here just to give me a present?"

"About right, you stupid boy," she chuckled. "Since it's your birthday, I'm giving you a week off from your ninja missions."

"WHAT! But TSUNADE! The missions are fun!" the blonde protested.

Inside, Inner-Sakura was struggling hard. 'What! That baka! Missions are dangerous! You should count it a blessing to be able to REST from missions! BAKA!'

"Don't fret yet, stupid boy. I have fifteen tickets for you and your friends to go to the Konoha Hot Springs," she replied.

"Wow! Really, Tsunade-sama? The Konoha Hot Springs! But I thought it was so expensive to go there!" Sakura said excitedly.

Even Sasuke seemed a bit bewildered at the idea. The K.H.S. (Konoha Hot Springs) was famous across all the villages in this part. Even someone who seemed isolated from the world, like Sasuke, had heard, even a little bit, about it. Only the very wealthy ninja families could afford to go there very often.

"Well, apparently, I know the owner of the springs. She said that she wanted to thank you guys for helping her find her cat in one of your previous missions. So, I told her that your birthday was coming up and here she gives me fifteen K.H.S. tickets," the Fifth said as she pulled some orange colored tickets out of her pouch and handed them to Naruto.

Naruto received the tickets and looked down at them in astonishment. The orange tickets seemed to be made out of some special smooth parchment. At the top of the ticket was the spring's logo, which was the Konoha leaf symbol with a picture of a hot spring next to it. The middle of the ticket was labeled _Konaha Hot Springs _and under that, the room number for their room was written. The blonde looked up at Tsunade, beamed, and stood up and hugged her.

"Oooh THANK YOU soooo muchhhh you're SOOOOOO NICEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Naruto said, smiling.

Tsunade chuckled again.

"Hey, stupid boy, don't go strangling me. I can't breathe. I gotta go now, I have more work to do," Tsunade said as Naruto released her, continuing to beam.

"So, Naruto, don't forget to invite fifteen people in two days, okay? The K.N.S. carriages will be waiting for you on the seventh. Have fun!" Tsunade reminded the blonde before walking off with a wave.

"So, Naruto, who're you gonna invite?" Sakura asked smiling sweetly. (Inner Sakura: 'Invite me! Meeeee! I wanna go to the K.H.S.! Naruto! Please! I wanna go!')

"You, of course, Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied, smiling back. (Inner Sakura: Yess! Yesssss! I'm SO good at this! I get to go!')

"How about Sasuke?" Sakura asked innocently. (Inner Sakura: Yes! Please let Sasuke go! We're gonna have a blastin' time!')

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke's direction as the black haired boy glared back. Eventually, Naruto sighed.

"Fine, Sasuke, you can go," Naruto said, fully expecting a big 'thank you' from the Uchiha.

"Who said I wanted to?" Sasuke retorted.

"WHAT! YOU DON'T WANNA GO TO THE FAMOUS K.H.S.! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! YOU'RE CRAZY!" Naruto could not believe that any person wouldn't want to go to the legendary hot springs.

Sakura could not believe it either.

"W-What! Sasuke-kun? You don't want to go?" Sakura stared at him, wondering for a moment how in the world had she come to like this guy.

"No," Sasuke simply replied.

"Fine!" Naruto stuck out his tongue. "There's tickets for OTHER people."

"S-Sasuke-kun! Come on, let's go! It's Naruto's _birthday,_" Sakura emphasized. "A person only has a birthday _once _a year. Please?"

"Hn," goes Sasuke.

"Hn," goes Naruto.

Sakura sighed. (Inner Sakura: 'BAKA! BAKA GUYS! WHY CAN'T THEY EVER, EVER STOP FIGHTING! HOW DID I EVER LIKE SASUKE! I'M DOUBTING MYSELF! ARGH! I, SAKURA, WILL END THIS FIGHT LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED!') She suddenly grabbed the tickets out of Naruto's hand and shoved one into each of the boys' hands.

"There, settled. You are both going," she stated. "And I will find twelve other people for your birthday party, Naruto, okay?"

Sakura smiled slightly at Naruto and got up from the table, leaving the two boys staring, amazed at her ability to stop their fight.

"WAIT UP, SAKURA-CHAN! It's MY birthday! I'll go hand out the invitations with you!" Naruto got up and he ran after her, leaving Sasuke alone at his table.

The Uchiha stared at the orange ticket in his hand and smirked. _Konoha Hot Springs. Room 007_, the fancy writing read.

"Fine," he murmured, slapped the money on the ramen table, and left.

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"Hey, Sakura-chan! Wait up!" Naruto shouted as he ran up beside his pink-haired teammate.

Sakura turned around.

"Oh, Naruto! I was just gonna go help you hand out these K.H.S. tickets! You wanna come?" she asked.

"Sure thing!"

"Who do you want to invite?"

"Hmm…well…" Naruto then spotted Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou walking on the other side of the road. "HEY GUYS! HI!"

The three sand ninja siblings looked over at Naruto and Sakura. While Naruto was waving giddily at them, Inner-Sakura was already beginning to panic. (Inner Sakura: 'What is he thinking! Waving at those scary sand people like that! My life is gonna be cut short someday because of his recklessness!') Suddenly, Naruto ran over to the threesome, leaving Sakura standing there open mouthed.

"Hey, guys! Long time, no see! What you guys been doin' here in Konoha?" Naruto greeted cheerily at them.

"We came here on a mission to deliver a document to the Fifth. We were just heading out," Temari replied, smiling slightly.

"Ohh, cool. You guys have any plans for this next week?" Naruto asked as Sakura came up behind him, still gaping.

"N-Naruto what are you doing…" Sakura stammered in fearful whisper.

"I'm inviting them to go to the Konoha Hot Springs with us!" he said cheerfully.

Gaara raised his eyebrows at the mention of the first class hot springs.

"The K.H.S.? Why?" Kankurou asked.

"It's my birthday! Wanna come?" Naruto gave them his biggest smile and pulled the orange tickets out of Sakura's hand.

He teasingly dangled the tickets in front of their faces. Temari and Kankurou looked at each other as if to decide whether to accept the offer or not.

"Yes, we'll come," Gaara answered for his siblings.

Temari and Kankurou gave each other weird looks again then shrugged. _My brother's getting weirder and weirder each day, _Kankurou thought.

"Great! Here are your tickets!" Naruto smiled again and handed them the tickets.

"N-Naruto! Are you sure about this!" Sakura poked him.

"Yea, sure, why?" Naruto, asked, confused.

"You have a problem with us being there?" Gaara asked, his face expressionless.

"N-No…of course not…" Sakura winced, cowering a little. (Inner Sakura: 'Of COURSE, I have a problem with you guys being there! WHAT IF YOU GET ANGRY ALL OF A SUDDEN AND SQUISH US ALL DEAD WITH SAND! OR I MIGHT DIE BECAUSE OF THAT FREAKY PUPPET KANKUROU HAS! OR THE FREAKISH FAN! AHHHHH!')

"Yes, of course Sakura-chan doesn't have a problem. Why would she? Anyway, see you guys in two days in front of my house! The K.H.S. carriage is coming to get us there," Naruto said.

"No need. We'll travel to the K.H.S. ourselves. We'll meet you there," Kankurou said, pocketing his ticket.

"Sure, sure. Well, Sakura-chan and I gotta go now! We gotta go invite other people to come! Bye!" Naruto shouted and ran past them, dragging Sakura along with him as she murmured an inaudible 'bye'.

Joyce: So...what do you guys think? Reviews, please:D Thank you very much.


	2. Carriage Conversation

**7 Days, Come What May**

_**Chapter II: Carriage Conversation**_

The morning of October the 7th was a pleasant one; the sun was shining, the sky was clear, and the birds were chirping. However, the birthday boy, Naruto, was still sleeping in his humble bed, unaware that the fifteen people he had invited was now standing in front of his door, waiting impatiently.

Shikamaru was sitting on the doorstep with his best friend Chouji on one side and Ino on the other side. They were, of course, staring at the clouds in the sky. At, least, Shikamaru and Chouji was, anyway. Ino, more accurately, was staring at a certain Uchiha's face a few feet away. Sasuke, was, as usual, standing around, brooding. The other guests doing similar brooding stances like Sasuke included Neji and Shino (Inner Sakura: 'These guys could easily form 'The Cool-Brooding-Standing-Poses club…gossh…too bad the only one of them that's good looking is Sasuke-kun!'). Aside from the brooding guys, the other people were more engaged in social activity.

Ten Ten was lively talking to the timid Hinata (who kept twirling her fingers nervously) while Kiba was engaged in a one-way conversation with his beloved dog. Lastly, Rock Lee was doing the thing that he liked best and that Sakura hated most—flirting with her.

"Sakura-chan, I'm soo glad you decided to invite me to have a lovely time with you at the springs!" Lee exclaimed, smiling as "cutely" as he can to her.

The pink haired ninja edged away a little, giving out a sheepish smile.

"Ehh…well…Go thank you Naruto…He's the birthday boy…"

"That's okay, Sakura-chan! You're so cute!" Lee beamed and winked.

Now, Sakura was _really _freaked out.

Inner Sakura: 'GET OUT! YOU'RE A FREAKY LOSER! I WILL NEVER FALL FOR YOU! EVER! YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOOD LOOKING!'

In reality: "Ermm…thank you…I guess," Sakura answered sheepishly and edged away a little bit more. "Well, I gotta go find Naruto, he's not even up yet."

And that was how Sakura escaped from Lee's sucky flirting "techniques". She quickly ran to Naruto's front door (making Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji get up from the doorstep) and banged on it.

"NARUTO, YOU BAKA! GET UP! GET UP NOW! HELLOO!" she yelled at the top of her voice.

No response. Now, Sakura was _really _mad. As she prepared to shout again, a hand covered her mouth. She turned around to find that it was Sasuke. She gave him a questioning look.

"You're making me deaf," he replied simply and jumped in the window.

Seconds later, Naruto was kicked out his bed and out of the door.

"HEY! WHATCHA DOIN'? I WAS HAVING THIS AMAZING DREAM WHERE I OWNED DA RAMEN SHOP!" Naruto shouted, rubbing his head where Sasuke had kicked him.

"Oui, Naruto! Sasuke-kun was just tryin' to wake you up! You invited us here to go to the K.H.S., remember?" Ino said, hands on hips.

The blonde took a moment to process the information.

"Oh. Yea. I remember now."

Sasuke (and probably Neji and Shino too) smirked. "Dobe."

Before Naruto had time shoot back an insult at the Uchiha, Sakura had already dragged him back inside the house. Sakura's high, panicky voice was heard from inside the house.

"PACK QUICKLY! THE CARRIAGE IS COMING IN LIKE, FIVE MINUTES!"

Sure enough, three traditional Japanese carriages came after 5 minutes. _Konoha Hot Springs _were inscribed upon the carriages in big, fancy letters. The first carriage included Sakura, Ino, Lee, and Ten Ten. Sasuke, Shino, Kiba, and Neji piled into the second carriage. Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Chouji sat in the third carriage.

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**First Carriage (Sakura, Ino, Lee, and Ten Ten)**

"Hey, big forehead, will you _please _scoot over? I don't want to accuse you of having not only a big forehead, but a big butt as well," Ino shot at Sakura.

"Well, _excuse me, _but can't you see you're the one taking up _all _the space? Besides, I can't move any more than this," Sakura shot back.

"Sakura-chan, if you like, you can sit on my lap!" Lee said cheerily.

"NO!"

"Go on, _big forehead. _You got an admirer there…and you can leave Sasuke-kun to me," Ino said, pushing Sakura to the side a little.

"First of all, Ino, you pig, _stop _that immature pushing. Second, Sasuke-kun is not yours," Sakura glared.

"Nor yours." Ino matched the glare evenly.

"Excuse me…but do you two have crushes on Uchiha?" Ten Ten interrupted.

"What does it look like, my dear?" Ino turned to reply with a pissed off look on her face.

"Ermm…okaayy….It looks like I should just shut up for now," Ten Ten replied, pouting a bit.

"It's okay, Ten Ten! Ignore that pig's RUDENESS. We can talk. Let's ignore her," Sakura retorted.

"What! You !$#!"

"Well, you're the !#$!"

"!$#!"

"!#$$$$&$#$&!"

"…" Goes Ten Ten and Lee.

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**Second Carriage (Sasuke, Shino, Kiba, and Neji)**

Sasuke was sitting on one side with Kiba and Neji on the other side with Shino. The mood in the carriage was very intense. It was silence all around. You could hear the creaking of the carriage's wheels on the road.

_Creak. Creak. Creak. _

Sasuke stared at Neji. Neji stared at Kiba. Kiba stared at Shino. It was an international staring contest. _I can't take in another moment of this intense silence, _Kiba thought. So, the dog-lover broke his eye contact with any of the other people and decided to rest his eyes on his dog, Akamaru, instead. Kiba pretended to pet Akamaru to keep himself from yelling like a maniac because of the freaky silence.

_Creak. Creak Creak. _

"So, I'm excited to go to the K.H.S., how 'bout you guys?" Kiba suddenly broke the silence.

"…"

"…"

"…"

So, Kiba went back to pet Akamaru.

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**Third Carriage (Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji)**

"Aiya! I hope they have ramen at that place we're goin'!" said Naruto cheerily.

"Any food fits fine with me," Chouji remarked while munching on his usual bag of chips.

"They should have that there. Since it's a first-class hot springs place and all," said Shikamaru.

Hinata was just sitting beside Naruto, continually twirling her fingers. She hadn't uttered a single word since the trip had started. Naruto seemed to notice this.

"Hey, Hinata, why're you so quiet today?" the blonde asked.

"N-Nothing," the Hyuuga heir replied very quietly.

"Actually, she's always quiet, Naruto," said Shikamaru.

"Want some of my chips?" Chouji offered the bag to her.

"N-No, thanks."

"Hey, Hinata, why do you always stammer?" Naruto shot another question at the quiet girl.

"I-I…"

"Probably because she's nervous," Shikamaru answered for the girl.

"Chips could calm your nerves. Want some?" Chouji offered Hinata the bag again.

"N-No Thanks."

"Hey, Hinata, why do you like twirling your fingers?" Naruto asked again.

"I d-don't …"

"Because she's nervous, of course," Shikamaru replied for Hinata again.

"Just try some of my chips, it'll calm your nerves, really," Chouji shoved the bag into Hinata's face for the third time.

This time, Hinata timidly did take one of the chips and took a mini-sized bite at the edge of it. The guys looked at each other.

"Wow. That was amazing. So, you feel better now?" Chouji asked curiously.

"Y-Yes…"

"Hey, Hinata, why…"

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The twelve teens arrived at the Konoha Hot Springs in due time, which was about noon. Now, the sun was high above and the heat was very unmerciful. Sakura and Ino stumbled out of their carriages, still bickering a little and throwing each other glares while Lee and Ten Ten followed behind sheepishly. Members of the second carriage came out of their carriage normally, except Kiba was still looking exceptionally interested at his dog. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji also all looked fine. However, Hinata looked very, very overwhelmed.

Everyone walked up to the enormous Japanese-styled house in front of them. They went inside and waited in the guestroom for a while. Eventually, a chubby, old lady holding a cat came to greet them.

"There you are, children! I've been waiting for you! I've wanting to thank you you ninjas so much for saving my cat, Kaida! And happy birthday, Naruto! Follow me, children, I'll take you to your rooms," the lady smiled. "Oh, and just call me Aunt Midori."

"Yay! Thank you, auntie Midori!" Naruto shouted, running up behind the old lady.

Once everyone reached the second floor, Aunt Midori stopped in the hallway.

"Everyone, take out your tickets. There are numbers on them. Match them with your room number and there, you have your room! Oh, yes, children, you may trade tickets if you want! Just let me collect them later at dinnertime, okay? Go finish unpacking, kids, I'll be downstairs preparing some snacks!" Aunt Midori explained then turned to go back down the flight of stairs.

"Hai, Auntie! Thank you!" Sakura called after the kind old lady.

Aunt Midori waved back in acknowledgement as everyone looked at their ticket number, trying to find which room they had to go to.

Joyce: Reviews, please:D I really want to know what you guys think.


	3. Being Roommates with the Sand Ninjas

**7 Days, Come What May**

_**Chapter III: Being Roommates with the Sand Ninjas**_

Naruto whistled. "Aha! I got room numba 001!"

"W-What, Naruto-kun!" Hinata suddenly exclaimed.

"Why, what's wrong, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

"I have…the same room number…" the Hyuuga girl said hoarsely.

"Really! Whoa! Great! We'll be having a sleepover party! Yay!" exclaimed Naruto happily before grabbing Hinata's hand and skipping happily into room number 001.

"Apparently, Naruto's doesn't know the dangers of sleeping in the same room with a girl," Chouji remarked after they were gone.

After that, everybody departed to their rooms. Ino was about to go into her room number 004 and close the door when Lee stopped her.

"What, Lee? Take your hand out, I'm going to unpack," she said, pissed off.

"Oh, but Ino-chan, I have room number 004 too!"

Ino paled visibly.

"You don't mean…we…have the same room?"

"Of course, Ino-chan! Isn't that great! I'll be able to protect you all night long! You can rest your senses while you're here!" Lee said happily.

Ino edged the door open a little bit wider then put her hands on her hips.

"Look here, loser. I am NOT. And I repeat, NOT, going to spend the night sleeping anywhere within a hundred feet near you. So get lost. Trade tickets with somebody. And don't come back here and let me see your face again until you do what I told you to do," Ino prepared to slam the door then opened it again. "Oh yea, loser, I forgot something. I'd prefer it if you'd trade tickets with Sasuke."

_SLAM._

Lee stood there a while, still dumbstruck by Ino's harsh greeting. _Hmph! No matter how bitchy that was, a gentleman must take all the bitchiness without complaining! _Lee tried to think positively. So, he trudged on his way to do Ino's bidding.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru walked up to the room with the number 002 on its wooden door. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned. _Strange, it's locked, _the Nara genius thought. He had just seen all his other friends go into their rooms without any problem with the lock. _How troublesome. I'll just go report this to Aunt Midori and get the key to the room, _Shikamaru thought.

As he turned around, the door suddenly opened. He whirled around to see Temari standing there in a casual purple yukata.

"What?"

"Oh, sorry, I must have had the wrong room number," Shikamaru replied apologetically.

"It's room number two, didn't you look at the sign?" Temari asked impatiently.

"Yea, I did," he said.

Temari raised her eyebrows, waiting for a further explanation.

"And my ticket says room number 002 too, but since you're already there…" Shikamaru tried to explain better.

"Then it _is _your room then," Temari said, opening the door wider. "Come in. There's two beds. I expected a roommate, but I didn't know it would turn out to be you."

Shikamaru dragged his stuff into the room and put it on his bed. What he _thought _was his bed, anyway.

"Hey, genius, that's _my _bed. I picked the one by the window. Where'd all your sharp analyzing skills go, huh, _genius_?" Temari picked up Shikamaru's stuff and somewhat violently threw it on the other bed.

"Whoa, whoa…easy there woman." Shikamaru raised up his hands in defense and edged his way to the other bed.

He lay down with his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. Temari stood there, looking at him for a while.

"Aren't you going to unpack, genius?"

Shikamaru turned his head slightly to look at the sand ninja.

"No."

Temari continued staring at him. Shikamaru sighed.

"Fine, fine, I'll unpack…how troublesome…" the lazy Nara genius slowly sat up and stared at his bag.

Temari grinned approvingly at Shikamaru and sat down on her own bed.

"It's hot in here," she spoke suddenly out of pure randomness.

"What do you want me to do?" Shikamaru said tiredly.

"Who told you I wanted you to do something?" Temari said sharply and got up.

She went to the corner of the room to get her fan. Shikamaru's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw what she was about to do.

"Hey. Hey. HEY! Stop it right there, woman! Your fan is going to destroy the WHOLE ROOM."

Temari gave him a frightening glare.

"You underestimate me."

With that, the sand ninja made her fan go in slow motion. The result was very effective. Now, the room was comfortably breezy and nothing (in contrast to what Shikamaru previously thought) was destroyed or broken.

Temari turned to grin cheekily at Shikamaru. "See? My fan's good as anything."

Shikamaru sighed with a sheepish smile on his face. "Why don't you just use the air conditioner?"

"Because I like it only at nighttime," Temari simply replied.

"Argh…I don't understand you women…very, very troublesome indeed…"

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Ten Ten walked into her room and dumped her stuff on the floor. Being a normally disorganized person, she took off her shoes and threw them…who knows where. She did the same thing with her socks. Suddenly, she felt like someone was looking at her. She swiveled around and gasped. There was Gaara, sitting on the sofa chair…with a big footprint on his face. _Her _footprint.

"Ehehehehe…oops," Ten Ten grinned guiltily. _Please don't squish me to death, _she added silently in her mind.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you today," Gaara replied, as if interpreting her mind.

_He won't kill me…today. He added today! That means he might kill tomorrow! _Ten Ten thought fearfully. She did not move from her spot.

"Don't be scared, I won't kill you," the red-head repeated.

_Okay, this time, he didn't add 'today'. _Ten Ten began to relax.

"Hehehe…okay…I'll just go unpack then," she said, trying to smile.

While Ten Ten was unpacking, Gaara surprisingly brought up conversation. Ten Ten did not know before that the sand ninja was a talkative person.

"How long have you known Naruto?" Gaara asked.

She was a bit startled at first at hearing Gaara speak.

"W-Well…I've known him since we've been in ninja school together…not that closely at first, but now, we talk more often because everything's back to normal now," Ten Ten replied, pulling out a pair of pajamas and stuffing them into the drawer.

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?" Ten Ten asked curiously.

"This is my first time being with this many people…friends," Gaara answered quietly.

Ten Ten turned around and smiled. "You'll get used to it and I'm sure you'll like it!"

"Ten Ten."

"Yes?"

"You didn't fold your clothes."

Ten Ten looked at the red head, confused. "Yea, and…?"

Gaara, with no emotion shown on his face, walked over to the closet and took out the pajamas that Ten Ten had just stuffed in there.

"Ninjas should be neat. Folded clothes take up less space," Gaara remarked while neatly folding the pajamas and putting them back up on the hanger.

"Wow, Gaara….you fold better than I do," Ten Ten said, a bit amazed.

Gaara didn't answer; instead, he went back and sat on the bed. The two brought up more friendly conversation. By the time that Ten Ten was finished unpacking and the two went down to get some of Aunt Midori's snacks, Ten Ten had decided something. _Gaara's a nice guy, not as mean as he looks, _she thought.

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"Kankurou!" Chouji exclaimed when he saw the puppeteer sitting on the bed in room 008.

"Greetings." Kankurou replied.

"You're my roommate?" Chouji asked.

"What does it look like, fatty? Me and my siblings came here even before you and Naruto did."

At the word "fatty", Chouji shut up. He did _not _like being called fat but he didn't want to pick a fit right now with this scary ninja. It always brought him down. With his face staring at the floor, Chouji walked to the other bed and dropped his bag gently on it. He sat down and opened his bag to eat another bag of chips. _So what if that stupid Kankurou calls me fat? I'm going to eat this and I don't care. _

Chouji opened the bag and popped one potato chip into his mouth. Even though he had his back to Kankurou, he could feel that Kankurou was still staring at him.

"May I have one?" Kankurou suddenly spoke.

Chouji turned around. He was a bit reluctant. _He just called me fat and now he wants my chips! _Chouji turned around again and continued to eat his chips. He pretended not to hear.

"Okay, I'm sorry then, you're not fat," Kankurou spoke up again.

Agained, Chouji slowly turned around.

"Are you just saying that because you want my chips or what?" Chouji narrowed his eyes at the sand ninja.

Kankurou sighed.

"I already apologized. If you don't already know, I'm always this rude. And if it makes you feel any better, I'm fat," Kankurou said tiredly. "And yes, I want to eat something. Haven't had anything to eat since morning."

Chouji was a nice guy. He couldn't stand to see someone starve before him.

"Yea, okay, just take the whole bag." Chouji handed the bag to Kankurou.

Kankurou accepted the bag and the two began munching chips together until Aunt Midori called them down. That evening, both Chouji and Kankurou had found a new friend.

Joyce: I'm going to answer your questions you guys had in your reviews now! By 'usual' pairings…I mean Sasuke X Sakura and Naruto X Hinata….urm…oh yea, and Shikamaru X Temari….the others I'm not so sure about, so you guys can just put in your reviews who you want with who, okay? Thanks. :D..And oh, yea..the roommates have nothing to do with who pairs with who..it was just random ''..except sasuxsaku and shikaxtema and naruxhina, that is XD...oh yea...having a writer's block (kinda) so suggestions are welcome :D


	4. You Want That?

**7 Days, Come What May**

_**Chapter IV: "You Want That?"**_

"Auntie Midori, Auntie Midoreee!" Naruto shouted, banging slightly on the table.

"Yes?" the kind old woman asked as she carried some smoothies and crackers to the table.

"What is there to do here at the K.H.S.?"

Hinata was sitting next to him with Sakura on the other side. The other people there were Chouji, Kankurou, Ino, Lee, and Ten Ten. The others were obviously still unpacking or went off wandering on their own.

"Hmm…" Aunt Midori rubbed her chins. "Well, there's horse-riding, the waterfalls, the spa, the fitness, the sauna, the tea house, our souvenir shop, the restaurant in the next building, and of course, our famous hot springs!"

"Whoa, HORSE-RIDING! I've NEVER been on a horse before!" Naruto cried happily and immediately stood up.

"C'mon, Hinata, let's go!"

"W-Why me?" she asked uncertainly.

"BECAUSE, we're roommates!" the blonde answered cheerily. "Where are the horses' stables, Auntie?"

"Out the back door, to the right, and continue going down the brick path," as soon as the old lady was finished speaking, Naruto had dragged Hinata out.

Ten Ten giggled. "They're a cute couple, aren't they?"

Sakura nodded. "I think Hinata-chan likes Naruto!"

"Duh," Ino added.

Again, Sakura's eyes met Ino's gaze. As usual, evil sparks flew. Lee fidgeted nervously. Chouji quickly got up.

"Urm, Auntie, I think I'm going to go check out that restaurant in the next building. You comin' Kankurou?" Chouji made up a reasonable excuse.

"Yea, sure," Kankurou replied. The two guys hurriedly exited through the back door.

Now, the only people left at the table were Sakura, Ino, Ten Ten, and Auntie Midori. The old woman was, naturally, a peace-lover and did not like fights.

"Girls, why don't you go find something to do?" Aunt Midori gently suggested.

"Hm! Fine, I'm going to the sauna. I'm going to get thinner for Sasuke-kuuun!" Ino sang as skipped out the door.

Ten Ten released the breath that she had been holding. Although she was sure that she could beat the blonde girl when it came to fighting, she was still a bit fearful of Ino. Ino had a pretty violent temper. Her eyes rested on the girl next to her, Sakura. Well, Sakura had an equally violent temper, but somehow, Ten Ten did not feel threatened. Maybe it was because Sakura had defended her on the carriage earlier in the day. When Sakura caught Ten Ten looking at her, she smiled.

"Don't be scared of that Ino-pig, Ten Ten! I'll beat her up for you if she does anything bad to you! I'm not scared of her," Sakura said reassuringly.

"I'm not scared, Sakura-chan!" Ten Ten replied a bit too loudly. "But thanks, anyway."

Sakura grinned again then got up. "Auntie, I think I'll go take a look around. Thanks!"

She ran out the door.

"How about you, Ten Ten, dear?" Aunt Midori asked the only remaining person left at the table.

"I don't know yet. I'll just go walk around and find something to do," Ten Ten replied. "Thanks for the snacks!"

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"Come on, Hinata!" Naruto looked back at Hinata as he ran.

Puffing and panting, the Hyuuga girl fought to keep up with Naruto. Naruto lessened his speed so that their steps could fall into place.

"I've never been on a horse before, have you, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

"I-I have," Hinata managed to pant out. "But I'm not very good at horse-riding, though. Neji's better."

"Aww…I'm sure you can do as good as him," Naruto gave Hinata an encouraging smile.

Hinata smiled back weakly and nodded.

Once they reached the horse stables, Naruto picked a big, black horse while Hinata picked a white one. Hinata easily got up on her horse while Naruto unsuccessfully tried to climb up. After about three tries, the blonde boy gave up.

"Hinata-chaaaaaan…do you know how I can get up on this horse?"

"U-Um...just step on the side thing and climb up," Hinata replied.

Naruto looked at the side step and hesitated. He looked up at Hinata with a playful grin. "Naww…I don't think I will."

For a moment, Hinata looked a bit bewildered. "O-Oh! That's okay then…if you don't want to go horse-riding with me…we can go do something else."

Hinata started to get down from her white horse when Naruto stood in front of her, preventing her from stepping down.

"No, noooo, Hinata-chan! That's not what I mean. Let's ride this horse together! Because even if I do get up on that other horse, I don't think I'll be able to control it," he goofily grinned at her again and extended out his hand so that she would help him up.

Hinata took Naruto's hand and helped pull him up, her cheeks slightly red (whether from the hot evening sun or something else, no one would ever know). The two ended up sitting together, with Hinata in front and Naruto behind her. Once Naruto was settled comfortably, Hinata began to make the horse trot.

"Wow, this is fun, Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed after a few minutes of trotting. "Can we go faster?"

"S-Sure, Naruto-kun!" Hinata immediately replied, and kicked the horse.

The speed of the horse was increasing and the cool summer breeze made the scene perfect. Naruto cuddled Hinata from behind.

"N-Naruto!" Hinata cried out at the unexpected gesture.

"Ahh…you're so soft, Hinata-chan! I really like this jacket you wear all the time, you know," Naruto said, leaning his head on her back.

"Thank you…" she replied very, very quietly.

In a while, the two came up to a big meadow full of colorful wildflowers.

"Wow…it's very beautiful…" Hinata remarked softly.

"Yea, it is! Hinata, let's go down and take a look!" Naruto said, tapping Hinata on the shoulder.

"Yes, lets…" Hinata began to get down from the horse.

Unfortunately, Naruto was trying to get down from the horse at the same time and their legs tangled.

"W-Whoaaaaaa!" Naruto cried as both of them fell down on the soft grass.

Hinata fell on top of the blonde boy and got up immediately.

"A-Are you okay, Naruto-kun? Are you hurt?" she asked nervously as she brushed herself off.

Naruto did not answer her. He was still on the grass, staring up at her face. Naturally, Hinata was not a person with the highest self-esteem. It bothered her when someone stared at her like that—with unblinking attention.

"N-Naruto….is there…something wrong?" she asked uncertainly.

To her surprise, the fox-boy burst out laughing. Hinata was not sure how to react. She reddened with embarrassment, even though she didn't know what she was supposed to be embarrassed about. This made Naruto laugh even harder. All of a sudden, Hinata could not stand it any longer.

"NARUTO! TELL ME!" She suddenly screamed.

Naruto froze. "W-Whoa. Now, that's new. Never seen you shouting before."

Hinata turned even redder than before. She gave him a disapproving look before walking off.

"H-Hey! Hinata-chan! Where're you goin'?" Naruto quickly got up and ran after her.

However, it was too late. Hinata had already mounted her horse and was steadily trotting off.

"HEYY…HINATA-CHAN! Don't leave me here!" Naruto shouted after the Hyuuga on the horse and began to run after her.

After a while, Naruto began to get pretty tired and was lagging behind a little.

"HINATA-CHAN! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY I WAS LAUGHING AT YOU! PLEASE TALK TO ME!" Naruto attempted at an apology.

The horse stopped. However, Hinata did not get down from her horse. Naruto ran to catch up.

"Come down, Hinata, I can explain!" Naruto extended a hand up to her.

However, Hinata did not accept Naruto's hand. She didn't even look at him. She looked straight ahead, like he was invisible. Her cheeks were still a bit red, and Naruto could tell that she was a bit mad at him.

"Awww…come on, Hinata, I'm sorrrrryyy," Naruto tugged at Hinata's jacket.

Hinata turned around a little and looked at him at last. When Naruto noticed that she was looking at him, he gave her his sweetest face.

"Pretty please, Hinata-chan?" he gave her a charming smile. "It's okay, you don't have to come down from that horse. Just listen to me, okay?"

Hinata didn't answer. She just looked at him with an unidentifiable expression on her face.

"Okay, I was laughing at you because it's funny how you just fell down…and instead of worrying about yourself, you're asking me if I was hurt or anything. It's just really amusing to see that worried or uncertain expression on your face…and I laughed even harder when you asked me if there was something wrong…it's just…you're so…funny, in a good way, I mean," Naruto confessed with a sheepish smile on his face.

He waited there for a while, hoping for the best reaction from Hinata. Unexpectedly, Hinata offered her hand down to Naruto.

"You can come up on the horse," she said quietly.

Naruto's smile grew very wide. "YAY!"

He climbed up on the horse and gave her a bear hug from behind. "Forgive me, will you, Hinata-chan?"

"M-Maybe…" she said softly.

Naruto placed his hands on both of her shoulders and leaned up front to take a look at her face. "But you're still not smiling…"

So, Naruto tickled her teasingly. "Hinata-chan! Give me a smile! If you smile that means you've forgiven me, right?"

Hinata squirmed around a bit, trying to force herself not to laugh. Eventually, however, she gave in.

"Hahahahahaha…Naruto! Stop!" she choked in between laughs.

"Naw…don't think I will!" Naruto continued to tickle Hinata playfully. "Unless….you say you'll forgive me!"

"Hahahahaha….Fine….Hahahahaahhaha….Okay! NARUTO-KUN I FORGIVE YOU!" Hinata shouted.

"Hahaha…okay, I'll stop now!" Naruto stopped tickling her and gave her another bear hug instead. "'Cause I don't' want you to die of laughter."

"Hahahaha…I-If you do that again, Naruto-kun, I definitely won't forgive you!" Hinata remarked cheerily.

"Oh, really, Hinata-chan? We'll see, we'll see…"

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Even though Sakura told Aunt Midori that she wanted to go out and explore the place, she doubled back to her room. Part of the reason she came back was because she wanted to see Sasuke (for no particular reason at _all_). When she first found out that she got to be in the same room as him (Room 007), she had quickly dumped her stuff on her bed and walked out of the room.

Sakura was not sure why she did that, but she suspected it was because she wanted to…compose herself before meeting alone with Sasuke. Or maybe…it was about the awkward situation that she was going to get to sleep in the same room as him. Sure, she could've traded her invitation card with someone else to get a different room number. But she didn't, because…well...she simply had a crush on him. Also, Sakura suspected that if she told everyone that she wanted to trade rooms, Ino would be the first one to trade with her. And Sakura would rather die than give Sasuke over to Ino. Ino was her forever-rival, and Sakura did not like losing. Sakura also had no intentions at _all_ to trade with Ino, because she did _not _want to spend the night with Lee.

Sakura opened the door and stepped into her room…_ahem_...her room _and _Sasuke's room. She saw Sasuke sitting on his bed, staring out of the window. His stuff was already all unpacked neatly into the closet. Well, Sakura had expected no less. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her when he saw her.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun!" said Sakura, smiling cheerfully.

As Sakura had already assumed, Sasuke did not reply to her greeting. He just lifted his glance from her and continued sitting there, staring into space. Sakura almost, _almost, _sighed, but her inner self told her to cheer up. '_Patience, Sakura, patience! Sasuke-kun's always like this…but he's really nice if you get to know him, and plus, he's not at all bad-looking!'_

"I'm just here to unpack my stuff. I hope I'm not bothering you," Sakura beamed at Sasuke again.

"Do what you want."

Sakura happily nodded and merrily unzipped her bag and started to put stuff into the closet. After she was all done, she turned around to Sasuke. Apparently, he had been sitting there, staring at her while she was unpacking.

Inner Sakura: 'Yay! At least he's looking at me!'

"So…Sasuke-kun….don't you want to go out and explore what they have to do around here?" Sakura asked happily again.

"No," he simply replied.

Inner Sakura: 'Argghhhh…he's soooooo….anti-social! HOW DID I EVER GROW TO LIKE THE GUY! Okay…patience…patience…he'll come around….'

"Oh….okay…well, then do you want to go…see what they've got for sale in the souvenir shop downstairs?" Sakura suggested with a hopeful face.

"You're so annoying," and with that, Sasuke got up, went to the closet at the corner of the room, and opened it.

Sasuke dug around a while, trying to find something. Meanwhile, Inner Sakura's patience was running extremely low. '_The nerve of that guy! I mean, if he wasn't such…a PRETTY FACE I would have PUNCHED him by now. And the only thing that's stopping me from doing exactly that is that I'm supposed to be having a crush on him…arghhhhh…how DARE he call me annoying!'. _Sakura stuck out her tongue and gave Sasuke the middle finger with both hands while his back was turned.

Unfortunately, Sasuke _did _have eyes on the back of his head. Or maybe it was because his Sharingan was too good.

"I saw that, Sakura," Sasuke calmly remarked with his back still turned.

Sakura's mouth dropped open as Sasuke turned around to face her. Apparently, he had found the wallet that he was looking for and he stuffed it into his pocket. He gave her a weird look.

"Didn't know you liked giving people the middle finger just for that," Sasuke stated coolly.

Sakura was super embarrassed. Inner Sakura: 'Oh, SHIT. This is GREAT. Just GREAT. And I'm supposed to be HAVING A CRUSH ON HIM. GREAT.'

"Erm…Sasuke-kun….that was…I don't know what you're talking about," Sakura made up a lame excuse.

Sasuke smirked. "I'm sure you don't know, Sakura."

He walked to the door of the room and opened it, prepared to go out.

"What are you waiting for, Sakura. You said you wanted to go somewhere?" he asked impatiently.

"W-WHAT? I thought you said…"

"Whatever, Sakura, You're so annoying," Sasuke said, walking out and closing the door behind him.

Sakura stood there, transfixed for a while.

"Hey, SASUKE-KUN! I'm going too! Wait up!" Sakura ran after him.

Soon after, Sakura caught up with Sasuke in the hallway. Inner Sakura: 'Wowwww! YEA! NOW my patience has paid off! I wanna see what Ino-pig's gonna say NOW! Hahahahaha…I'm going to…errr…where were we going again? …yea, anyway, WITH SASUKE-KUN!'

After a while, the two reached the souvenir shop. Sakura wandered around to look at various stuff, randomly picking up cute key chains and examining them enthusiastically. Sasuke, meanwhile, just walked around looking at stuff with a very uninterested look on his face. Then, Sakura spotted a beautiful pink yukata with patterns of white sakura flowers on a clothes model. She went over to touch the sleeve.

"Wow. This is so beautiful…" Sakura said in awe. _'But most likely too expensive,'_ she silently added.

Sasuke had come up to stand behind Sakura.

"You want that?" he asked blankly.

"Yea, but…"

"Miss, how much is yukata?" Sasuke called impatiently to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper came over and gave Sasuke the price (a staggering price, which Sakura was in too stunned a mood to remember). The Uchiha took out his wallet and coolly paid for the pink sakura-patterned yukata. Minutes later, the shopkeeper came back with the yukata in a bag (labeled "Konoha Hot Springs Souvenir Shop") and handed it to Sasuke.

Sasuke quickly led Sakura out of the shop and handed the bag to her. Sakura reluctantly took the bag. She was still stunned. Sakura stared at Sasuke, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, trying to speak. Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"What?" he asked, irritated.

"W-Why did you…buy that for me?" The question did not come out as smoothly as Sakura had wanted it to me. She hoped that it didn't sound too…ungrateful.

Sasuke smirked.

"Because you were taking too long in that shop and it was too annoying. I'm going back up," he replied impassively.

With that, Sasuke walked off.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called after him after a few moments of trying to process the information he had just told her.

Sasuke stopped without turning around.

"Thank you."

_'You're welcome,' _came his unspoken reply.

Joyce: I apologize for the late update:) I'll try to update sooner...but I was having a writer's block and...just simply busy. But I think, THINK I won't be updating until Sunday or after this Sunday because my prom's on Saturday! And you know proms mean...a lot of preparing and stuff...whew...:D...hmm...My dress is pink ...hehehe..XD..just for your information XD...I'm really nervous! Oh, and after the prom I'm gonna go out and PARTAY with my frendz all night long! And if I get any...urm...inspiration there I'll put it in the next chappie:D...OH, yea, nother thing. Lotsa people been asking for...what was it...Neji and Ten Ten (correct me if I'm wrong)?...I _think, will try, _to put that in later chappies if I can XD...and thanks for all your support and please CONTINUE TO REVIEWS! I love you all! XD


	5. The Cure to Snoring

Disclaimer: Okay, I just noticed that I forgot to put the disclaimer in all my previous chapters. :S. Please don't sue me…so…I don't own Naruto!

**7 Days, Come What May**

_**Chapter V: The Cure to Snoring**_

Meanwhile, Lee roamed around in the hallway, not knowing what to do and where to go. He'd just been kicked out of his own room (by Ino) and had been dragging his stuff around with him for the last twenty minutes. He glanced down at the doors in the hallway. _'I might as well try knocking on a door…maybe someone will let me sleep with them,' _Lee thought humbly.

Lee stopped in front of room 005 and knocked gently on the wooden door.

_KNOCK, KNOCK!_

Promptly, someone came to open the door. It turned out to be Neji.

"Oh. Lee," Neji stated, as if to ask Lee what business had he there.

"Hi, Neji! I was wondering if…I could…" Lee wanted to say 'sleep in your room' but he got goosebumps just thinking about sleeping in the same room with the white-eyed Hyuuga boy.

The idea somehow occurred to Lee as very, very freaky.

"…hang out in your room for a while?" Lee finished the sentence unconvincingly.

Neji shot Lee an odd look and stepped back for Lee to come into the room. Apparently, Neji's roommate was Shino, who was drinking coffee by the window. _'Ooh, they have room service at this place…'_ Lee thought randomly. Neji's and Shino's stuff were all already unpacked into the wooden closet.

Shino turned to acknowledge Lee when Lee came into the room but he did not say anything. After a moment, Shino turned back to drinking his coffee and staring out of the window. Lee awkwardly sat down on the sofa while Neji sat on his bed.

"So, why're you really here?" Neji spoke to Lee again.

"Hehehehe…well I'm a terrible liar huh…actually Ino kicked me out of the room," Lee replied sheepishly.

Neji smirked. "I see. You can sleep on the sofa."

"Yea, thanks for understanding," Lee responded gratefully.

Suddenly, Shino turned their way. "Lee, can you bring me the sugar on that table?"

"Come get it yourself, Aburame," Neji spoke up.

"I was not talking to you, Hyuuga."

"U-Uhh…guys, GUYS? We're ROOMMATES here…we're supposed to have fun…." Lee tried to stop the comfortable staring.

"Shut up," Neji and Shino said in unison.

Lee sighed. Being stuck in a room with Neji and Shino was not any better than being verbally abused by Ino.

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While Neji, Shino, and Lee got stuck to sleeping in the same room, Kiba and his dog, Akamaru, got their own room.

"Ahhhh! This is SO nice! I get my own room while other people get roommates!" Kiba lay down on his soft bed in the most comfortable position imaginable.

Akamaru was munching on all the room service food that Kiba had ordered up.

"YES, I LOVE THIS VACATION! Don't you, Akamaru?"

"Ruff! Ruff!" the dog happily replied.

"Hmm…I wonder how that Bug Freak Shino and Hinata are doing…"

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The rest of that eventful day went along pretty normally. The crew had their dinner (homemade by Auntie Midori) and went to sleep. Unluckily, some people had trouble sleeping...

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Hinata shifted around in her bed, trying to sleep. Sure, she liked Naruto a lot, but she sure did _not _like his snoring one bit. She'd be shifted around for the last twenty minutes now. _'I'll wait a little bit more, see if he stops…' _she thought hopefully.

After about five more minutes passed, Hinata could not stand the snoring any longer. Being the shy girl that she was, she had no plans to wake Naruto up and tell him to shut up. Instead, she just sat up on her bed and stared a Naruto's snoring face. Hinata blushed and dreamily sighed. She couldn't make herself angry at someone with such an honest, peaceful face.

Hinata got up from her bed and went to sit on Naruto's bed. She watched him a while more and leaned in closer to examine his face. _'What am I doing?' _Hinata blushed again at the thought of being this close to Naruto.

"Hinata-chan…" Naruto suddenly blurted out.

Hinata was so shocked that she practically separated the close distance between in a matter of seconds.

"N-N-Naruto…?" Hinata whispered quietly in response to his calling her name.

Naruto did not reply, and Hinata realized with relief that he had just been talking in his sleep. She let out the breath that she had just been holding. Out of the blue, Naruto's sleepy hand reached out to squeeze Hinata's hand. _'What! W-What am I supposed to do now?' _Hinata blushed into a deeper shade of red.

Hinata slowly and gently tried to pry Naruto's hand away from hers but it didn't work. So, she began to pull away harder. _'I hope he doesn't wake up.' _Just at that moment, Naruto woke up to the tugging at his hand. He opened his eyes.

"Hinata-chan?" he lay on the bed with a questioning look on his face. "What are you doing up this late?

Naruto yawned and sat up to look at the red-face Hyuuga girl.

"N-Naruto! I-I was…just…I mean…" Hinata did not know how to explain.

The situation could be very well misunderstood by Naruto. Naruto took a look at Hinata for a while and put his hand on her forehead.

"What is it, Hinata-chan? Are you sick?" Naruto rested his hands on Hinata's forehead for a while.

It was a bit hot (probably from her blushing so hard). Naruto's eyes widened.

"Hinata-chan! You're sick!" he exclaimed worriedly.

"I-It's okay, Naruto-kun, I'm not sick…" Hinata said timidly. "Please don't worry about me. I'm sorry for interrupting your sleep. You can go back to sleep now, Naruto-kun."

"You sure, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked again with that concerned look on his face.

Hinata was just blushing too hard. She trembled and backed away a bit. Naruto continued to examine the Hyuuga girl, trying to think about why she might be up. Then, all of a sudden, he grinned at her slyly.

"Oooh….I know, Hinata-chan, you're trying to take advantage of my cute self while I was sleeping, is that it?" Naruto asked teasingly and gave her his sweetest smile.

"N-No! Naruto-kun…It's not like that…" Hinata blushed even harder (if that was even possible) and backed away a little bit more. Naruto, however, scooted up closer to her.

"Aww…Hinata-chan…don't be so shy…I know you like me…"he grinned mischievously.

Hinata's eyes widened. "W-What? How did you—"

Hinata gasped when Naruto leaned in closer to her. _'What is he doing! I-Is he trying to kiss me!'_

"I was just kidding, Hinata-chan," Naruto whispered playfully into Hinata's ear.

"O-Oh!" Hinata exclaimed, getting red again. _'W-Whew…I-I thought that was going to be…a kiss…and…I almost let out that I like him…'_

Naruto took a look at Hinata's red face and chuckled light-heartedly. "You're so funny, Hinata-chan, you actually took me seriously? No one ever does that, you know."

"T-That was mean, Naruto-kun!" Hinata remarked, frowning lightly with her face red with embarrassment.

"Awww….Hinata, don't be mad at me again, okay? Even thought you look so cute even when you're frowning!" Naruto gave her his most charming smile again.

Hinata cracked a smile. _'I can always forgive Naruto-kun when he's this cute…' _she thought dreamily. The Hyuuga girl ended up giggling. Naruto took another look at her and laughed good-naturedly along with her.

"Hinata-chan…actually, I know that you can't sleep because of my snoring, is that right?" Naruto asked Hinata when the two were done with the giggles.

"Umm..well…" Hinata did not want to state the obvious.

"Hahahahaha…that's okay, you can say it, Hinata-chan. I forgot to take my snoring medicine Tsunade gave me anyway," he grinned at her sheepishly and got up to get his medicine.

Hinata shyly smiled at Naruto's dark form taking his medicine. She got into her own bed and pulled the covers over herself. When Naruto finished taking his medicine, he walked over to her bed and sat on it.

"This is for apologizing for my Hinata-chan for keeping you up," he said cutely and leaned over to give Hinata a light kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight, Hinata-chan."

Hinata was mesmerized for a moment at Naruto's sudden actions. "G-Goodnight, Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled again at Hinata's reply and got up and went to his own bed to sleep.

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Meanwhile, some people took more serious measures to shut up the snoring. For example, Temari and Shikamaru. Temari got up from her bed for the second time that night with her pillow in her had.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Temari screamed into Shikamaru's ear while hitting him hard with her pillow.

"Ey, ey! WOMAN. Take it easy. That was not loud at all!" Shikamaru raised both of his arms to block the pillow blows.

Temari glared at him through the dark.

"If I hear another peep from you, _genius_…" she whispered harshly into his face.

"Yes, Yes, Temari-sama. How troublesome…" Shikamaru carelessly waved the threat off and went back to sleep.

Temari smirked and went back to her own bed and slept. Unfortunately, just three minutes later, Shikamaru started to snore again. Temari got up from her bed with a murderous expression on her face. This time, she did not hold the pillow in her had. She slowly walked over to Shikamaru's bed and placed her hand on his neck. His eyes fluttered open immediately as she began to strangle him.

"Hey! S-Stop strangling me! I c-can't breathe!" Shikamaru choked, attempting to pull Temari's hands off his neck.

"I told you this would happen," she hissed at him viciously. "Don't underestimate me."

Temari lifted Shikamaru off the bed, holding him by his neck. Her eyes sparkled at him as she smiled at him triumphantly. Shikamaru looked down at her with a shocked expression on his face…at first. All of a sudden, Temari felt her muscles freeze. She couldn't move. Her eyes widened at Shikamaru's now smirking face.

"T-The shadow jutsu…" Temari stammered with a hint of fear in her voice.

Shikamaru's smiled at her coolly. He pried Temari's now weak fingers from his neck.

"Woman, I'd have to admit you're pretty good. It's troublesome that I have to use my shadow jutsu this late at night," Shikamaru remarked, smiling casually at Temari's pissed off face.

"Let go of me," Temari growled through gritted teeth.

"Sure, sure, woman. It's too troublesome and tiring to use the shadow jutsu too long anyway," Shikamaru decided, and then released the sand ninja from his shadow jutsu.

Temari gave Shikamaru a death glare and growled. "HOW am I gonna shut you up and get some sleep then, idiot?"

Shikamaru shrugged, yawned, and carelessly got into his bed again. Temari silently fumed. She felt like punching the lazy ninja on the bed in front of her, but she knew better. Even though Shikamaru gave the appearance of being asleep, Temari knew that he was aware of what she was doing.

Then, Temari's eyes spotted the bandage roll on the bedside next to Shikamaru. Her eyes lit up and she smiled. Temari quickly tore a small strip of the bandage off of the roll and lightly pasted it on Shikamaru's mouth. Shikamaru's eyes shot open when he felt the bandage on his lips. He gave Temari a questioning face.

Temari determinedly beamed back at him. She put one finger on Shikamaru's lips to smooth out the bandage. After that, she bent down and poked one of Shikamaru's cheeks with her finger. Apparently, Temari was amused at how annoyed Shikamaru looked when she did that. So, she pinched both of Shikamaru's cheeks and stretched them. Temari giggled at Shikamaru's even more annoyed expression.

"Hehehehe…now, _genius_," she mocked. "This should keep you quiet the rest of the night, ne?"

Shikamaru gave Temari an exasperated look. He lifted his hand up to peel off the bandage but she caught his hand.

"Don't. I want to get some sleep tonight," she told him in a playful but warning tone.

Shikamaru gave Temari another annoyed look. She giggled again and bent down and planted a small kiss on Shikamaru's bandaged mouth. His eyes widened at what she did. His face went unexpectedly red.

"You look quite cute there, _genius_!" she exclaimed happily and skipped into her own bed.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru quietly murmured, a long while after Temari had gone to sleep.

His cheeks were still red. The rest of the night, the Nara did not utter a sound.

**Joyce (rant): **Okay, my prom on Saurday went pretty well:) It's nice to see my usual classmates dress in something formal :D..they all look sooo nice! Took TONS of pictures..hehehehe..But the food kinda sucked...liked only da CHEESECAKE! XD Yum Yum...okay, enough of my ranting...reviews, please! XD


	6. Gain One, Lose One

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter VI: Gain One, Lose One_**

Sakura tossed and turned in her bed. _'I am in the same room as Sasuke-kun! The SAME room! This is so exciting!...urm...even if he isn't really doing anything much…but this is like, a LIFE experience for me!' _Sakura thought happily, almost letting out an excited squeal. She turned her body to face Sasuke on the other bed. Sasuke, unfortunately, was faced away from her.

Sakura watched Sasuke's body went up and down, indicating of his gentle breathing. _'Ahh…he's even cute from behind…is it wrong to think that we're destiny? I mean, he doesn't seem to like me much but…first we've been put in the same team…then, we accidentally get the same rooms…ahh…I'm hopeless at this!' _A dreamy smile crept onto Sakura's face and she stared at Sasuke's back for a few more minutes.

"It's getting annoying, Sakura."

The dreamy smile was instantly wiped off of Sakura's face. Inner Sakura: 'What! He knew! THIS IS SO EXCITING! Okay, wait, that's not the point. Oh, right, HE KNEW! I guess I'll just pretend I don't know anything then!' Sakura quickly rolled onto her other side to pretend that she was sleeping. To perfect her acting, she even tried to breathe slowly up and down to give the impression that she was really sleeping. Only, her heart was still beating fast at the nervousness of being discovered.

Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back to where she had been looking before. Sakura (with a blushing face) knew it was Sasuke but she pretended to groggily open her eyes.

"Wazzup, Sasuke-kun?" she asked sleepily, looking up at Sasuke's face above hers.

"I can see through your bad acting, Sakura," he raised her eyebrows impatiently.

Inner Sakura: 'WHAT! MY LIFE IS OVVVVERRR!'

"I-I…I….I…." Sakura stammered, trying to look away.

She was quite unsuccessful because Sasuke's face was right above hers and there was no where else she could avert her eyes to.

"Do I bother you that much?" Sasuke suddenly asked out of the blue. "That you can't even sleep?"

Inner Sakura: 'YES! YES, EXACTLY! YOU BOTHER ME SO MUCH! BECAUSE I LIKE YOU SO MUCH! WHO CARES ABOUT SLEEPING!'

In reality: "No, Sasuke-kun…you don't bother me. It's nice being around you," Sakura gave a small, shy smile.

Sasuke looked a bit taken aback that that last statement but quickly turn it into a self-satisfied smirk.

"You like me, don't you Sakura?" he asked emotionlessly, sitting on her bed.

Sakura didn't answer. Of course Sakura liked him. But what was she supposed to say? Yes? She just reddened and sat up. Inner Sakura: 'Why, oh, why do you have to ask the obvious? You know the answer, Sasuke-kun! Even though this _is _a romantic moment…but anything could go wrong!'

"Why do you keep on trying? I always ignore you anyway. Don't you ever get it into you head that you're really annoying?" Sasuke looked at her with emotionless eyes.

This time, Sakura did sigh. She'd refrained herself from sighing many times before when he said that she was annoying, but this time, she couldn't hold it back. This time, the things Sasuke was telling her were too…straightforward. Basically, he was telling her honestly to just fuck off and never mess with him ever again. And, it was making her heart break. She never knew that it would make her so sad all of a sudden. She thought that the thing she had for Sasuke was just puppy love…something that'll go away in a few month's time. Unfortunately, Sakura was wrong, and it hurt.

"I-I get it Sasuke. Sorry for wasting your time all this time…I promise…I'll never annoy you again," Sakura whispered softly.

Her face was down and her hair was covering her eyes. Sasuke couldn't see what her face was like. Sakura quickly got up from her bed, keeping her head down all the time. She walked to the door, opened it, and left. Now, the room was quiet. Sasuke sat there on her bed, staring at the door that Sakura that just exited. It might have been a trick of the light, but Sasuke's eyes did look kind of sad.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I only did the best for you," Sasuke whispered to himself in the darkness of the night.

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"Sasuke-kun, do you love me?" Ino asked sweetly, holding hands with the Uchiha.

"Of course, Ino. I always have. That stupid big forehead Sakura means nothing to me," Sasuke replied and leaned in for a kiss.

Ino's and Sasuke's face got closer and closer…

KNOCK, KNOCK.

Ino jolted out of her sleep. She groaned in annoyance. _'Who the hell has just interrupted my quality dream time about Sasuke-kun! I NEED my beauty sleep!'_

The blonde got up from her bed and dragged herself to the door. Ino opened it to find Sakura, the forever-enemy that she'd just dreamt about.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING-" Ino stopped when she saw Sakura's crying face.

Oh, yes, Ino had dreamt of this moment. Exactly this moment, where Sakura would be in tears and begging for her mercy. Strangely, Ino could not find it in her heart to happily dwell in her triumph. Victory was not as sweet as Ino thought it would be. Actually, it was just the opposite. Ino was shocked to see her ex-best friend crying at her door.

"C-Come in, Sakura-chan!" Ino gently led the sobbing Sakura into her room and closed the door behind them. "What happened to you? Tell me."

Ino opened the lights and led Sakura to sit on her sofa. Sakura was still crying. Ino felt so sorry for Sakura that she felt like she was going to cry too. So, Ino leaned over and gave Sakura a hug and patted Sakura's back.

"There, there, Sakura-chan…take your time…cry it all out first then tell me," Ino said in a soothing voice.

It was just like the old days when the two were best friends. Sakura would always be the one crying and running over to Ino and Ino would always be the one who stood by Sakura and comforted her. Somehow, the thought gave Ino a pang in her heart. Ino's comforting words only made Sakura cry harder. Ino continued to pat Sakura on the back and went to get some tea.

When Ino came back, Sakura's crying was getting less. Ino smiled and handed Sakura the cup of tea.

"T-Thank you…" Sakura said in a teary voice.

"No need, Sakura…" Ino sat beside the pink-haired girl and continued to pat her back.

"S-Sasuke…h-he told me…" Sakura let out a sob and cried a little before she continued. "H-He…doesn't want me to mess with him anymore…H-He hates me a lot…H-He said…."

Sakura couldn't finish her sentence and burst out crying. Ino gave Sakura another hug and patted her back.

"Calm down, Sakura-chan, everything'll be alright…what did he tell you, Sakura?" Ino asked gently.

"H-He said…H-He said…I was annoying," Sakura replied in between her sobs.

"What! That bastard Uchiha! You're not annoying, Sakura-chan, don't listen to him!" Ino said hotly in defense of Sakura.

Sakura stopped crying a little and then looked at Ino.

"B-But…Ino-chan, I t-thought you liked him?" Sakura asked with tearful hiccups.

Ino shook her head with a furious expression on her face.

"I won't like any bastard that insults my best friend, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's eyes widened. "F-Friends, Ino?"

Ino hadn't realized that she'd blurted the words "Best friend" out in front of Sakura. Ino reddened a little.

"Y-Yea, Sakura-chan!" Ino said a little too loudly. "…If you want to, that is…" Ino added in a softer voice.

Sakura's sad face slowly turned into a big smile. "I-I'd LOVE to be your best friend, Ino-chan!"

Ino grinned back as widely as Sakura had. The two girls hugged each other for a long time. Then, Sakura whispered softly into Ino's ear.

"Ino-chan…you don't have to do this for me, you know…you can still continue to like Sasuke if you want…I promise that this time, it won't affect our friendship…Because my friendship with you is what I value most, over some guy that doesn't even care about me…"

Ino pulled away from the hug and looked into Sakura's green eyes, filled to the rim with tears of both happiness and sadness.

"Sorry to disappoint you girlie, but a guy with that kind of attitude…I'm not interested," Ino said confidently.

Sakura smiled gratefully at her friend.

"Thank you, Ino…if you weren't here…I wouldn't know where to go and what to do at all…thank you for everything."

"That's what best friends are for, right Sakura-chan? Who cares about that bastard?" Ino remarked cheerily.

"Right!" Sakura enthusiastically replied with a big smiled on her face.

Inside, however, Sakura knew that letting go would be very, very hard.

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The next morning was bright and shining, just like the day before. Ten Ten woke up to the song of the door opening. She opened her eyes to see Gaara grabbing his gourd and preparing to go out the door.

"Why up so early?" Ten Ten asked sleepily.

"…things to do…" Gaara murmured darkly before slamming the door behind him.

_'Weirdo…' _Ten Ten thought to herself.

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Gaara, apparently, had a very important business to finish. Although he might seem a lot like a party pooper at first, he somehow _did _manage to remember that tomorrow was Naruto's official birthday party. He appeared in the meadow field behind the horse stables ten minutes later, still carrying his gourd.

Then, the redhead walked over to a nearby tree and leaned on it. Temari's words flashed through his head.

**F L A S H B A C K**

"_What activities do they do at a birthday party, Temari?" Gaara asked, sitting on the kitchen table, staring at his food. _

_"Well…I'm not exactly experienced in social issues but…" Temari paused, thinking. "I think you have to give Naruto-kun something, as a present."_

_Gaara raised his eyebrows. "A present? Why?"_

_"As a celebration for his birthday, of course…you might want to give him something he likes…"_

**E N D O F F L A S H B A C K**

"Something Naruto likes…" the sand shinobi wondered out loud.

Gaara was thinking so hard that he did not hear someone come up behind him.

"Yo, Gaara, my bro! What business brings you here?" Kankurou greeted him cheerfully.

Chouji was behind Kankurou and hesitantly nodded, in a bit of fear of Gaara.

"..just…thinking…" Gaara murmured.

Kankurou raised his eyebrows and looked over at Chouji, who just shrugged.

"Ehh..then, Gaara…we won't interrupt your..eh…thinkin' then. We'll just get going…" Kankurou said and then started to walk off with Chouji.

"Wait, Kankurou, Chouji," Gaara suddenly said.

Kankurou stopped and turned around. "What is it, Gaara?"

As for Chouji, he was quite confused as to why Gaara wanted him to stay too, not just Kankurou.

"What does Naruto like?" Gaara asked, is face void of emotion.

"Eh? What? Why do you want to know that, Gaara?" Kankurou asked, giving his brother a weird look.

"Birthday," Gaara simply replied.

"O-Oh, I know…he likes…ramen…I think," Chouji ventured to speak.

"Hey man, but Gaara can't give Naruto a bowl of ramen as a present!" Kankurou said, trying to think of what else Naruto liked.

"Why not?"

"Because, brother…I don't quite think it's a social thing to do…" Kankurou explained. "But you can if you wanna, I mean…I think Naruto will like anything you give him."

"Then help me think of more things he likes," Gaara leaned back on the tree again to think.

"Hmm…Naruto likes ramen…fighting…urm…I can't think of anymore," Chouji rubbed his head.

Gaara closed his eyes awhile, as if he was thinking very hard. Kankurou and Chouji curiously stared at the redhead all the while. When Gaara finally opened his eyes, both Kankurou and Chouji gave the redhead questioning looks.

"Chouji, what jutsu does Naruto like using?" Gaara questioned, crossing his arms seriously.

"Well…I'm not _that _close to him but I know that…he likes using the Sexy no jutsu in front of Iruka-sensei," Chouji replied.

"Hmm…okay…I know what to give him…" Gaara stated with a now confident look on his face.

Kankurou and Chouji looked at each other with weird looks on their faces.

"Whatever my brother has planned, it's gonna be super weird," Kankurou whispered into Chouji's ear as Chouji sheepishly smiled in reply.

Gaara was now rubbing his hands together, a very curious plan forming inside his red head.

**Joyce: **Yes, _again, _I'm _very _sorry about the delay! School projects and all..:( Exams comin' up too..but I will try to update as soon as I can!XDAnd yea, that Neji X Ten Ten stuff is coming along...urm...I think...as soon as I get any ideas about them and can put them into words :D Well, I'm VERY grateful for all your encouraging reviews and please keep them coming in! Thank you! XD


	7. What Appeals to the Eye

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter VII: What Appeals to the Eye_**

"Here, here, Akamaru, look! Isn't she beautiful?" Kiba asked his pet dog.

The thing that Kiba was referring to was a small Shih Tzu that he was holding in his lap. Akamaru barked in reply to Kiba. Kiba continued to gently pet the Shih Tzu. Suddenly, the little Shih Tzu jumped off of Kiba's lap. Then, it just ran off and began barking at Lee, who had just walked by.

"Hey, hey there, little dog! Is this your new dog, Kiba? I haven't seen you brought her here to the K.H.S.," Lee bent down to pat the white-furred dog.

The Shih Tzu stopped barking at the gentle petting.

"Well, actually, no. It's for Naruto's birthday, you see. Quite hyper, don't you think?" Kiba replied, looking appreciatively at his present.

"Hyper and loud fits Naruto," Lee scooped up the dog and carried it back to Kiba. "What's his name?"

"First of all, it's a she. And well, haven't named her yet. I'll leave the names up to Naruto," Kiba received the dog back from Lee. "Anyway, what're you givin' him?"

"A green jumpsuit. I already have it wrapped and everything in my room. I figured that since he's been such a great friend to me all these years, I'll give him one…as a sign of my friendship, you know? Even Gai-sensei has one," Lee proudly replied of his gift.

Kiba laughed. "Sometimes, those identical green jumpsuits that you and Gai-sensei wear all the time make it seem like you're in some secret organization or club, you know?"

"Yea! The power of youth, of course!" Lee chuckled.

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Long, silky black hair flowed freely in the warm water. The beautiful black hair belonged to none other than Neji Hyuuga, who was taking his time in a hot spring of the famous K.H.S. At the moment, Neji didn't have his headband on because, of course, it would get wet if it was on right now. Neji was somewhat attracted to the warm water of the springs; he had been here two days in a row now. The warm water was relaxing and soothing, something that he didn't normally have when he was usually training.

Suddenly, he heard a sound of someone walking towards him. His Byakugan eye technique told him everything that he needed to know—the person walking towards him was Ten Ten.

_'Oh, yes…I just recalled that this is a hot spring for both men and women…' _Neji thought, furrowing his brows.

He didn't feel like getting up from the pool just for the courtesy of giving it to his teammate. Besides, he had nothing to be ashamed of, right? Neji briefly looked down at himself. Well, his hair was untied and he was shirtless with only a pair of navy boxers. _'Reasonable enough,' _he thought, but even with that, his mind somehow told him to hide.

So, Neji went and hid behind the huge rock in the middle of the steaming pool. Shortly, Ten Ten came closely into view. The Hyuuga watched as Ten Ten dipped one of her toes into the water, to test the temperature. Ten Ten's face told him that she was pleased with the soothing temperature of the water, so she slowly slid into the pool. Neji took his time to further observe Ten Ten's current attire, for he had never seen her dressed like this, in all his years of training daily with her.

For one, Ten Ten's hair was down, not up in two buns like it always was when training with him. _'Interesting…her face looks a bit different with her hair down,' _Neji thought. As for what Ten Ten was wearing, it was a light pink bikini. _'Even more interesting…the first time seeing her wear this less clothes,' _contemplated Neji. The average normal guy would have gone "Whoa! Look at that!" if they had seen Ten Ten. But, of course, the white-eyed Hyuuga was _anything_ but normal. His changing hormones never showed in his face or in his attitude, if he _had _any hormones _at all. _

There was the time when Ino (who could possibly flirt with almost anyone, with the exception of Sasuke and Neji) tried her flirting techniques on the Hyuuga. The blonde had untied her ponytail, sweet faced, _and _sweet talked at the Neji _all at the same time. _Needless to say, none of Ino's flirting techniques did work. Neji didn't even seem slightly _wavered _at the flirting. It was as if Neji had all his hormones under strict control.

"Ahhh! Feels so gooooood…." Ten Ten moaned, leaning deeper into the water.

The thought suddenly occurred to Neji that he was _stalking _her. _'Why am I hiding anyway! I have nothing to be ashamed of,' _Neji thought. The idea of being a stalker did not appeal to him at all, so, the Hyuuga decided to come out from behind the rock.

"O-Oh! Hello, Neji!" Ten Ten said, flushing when she saw her white-eyed teammate appear from behind the rock. "H-How long were you behind that rock?"

"A long time."

"Oh…okay…well…umm…yea," Ten Ten lamely finished her sentence, her face still red.

The two sat in silence at opposite sides of the steaming pool for a while. Neji was emotionlessly staring at Ten Ten while Ten Ten was pretending not to notice and looking anywhere else but at Neji. _'Gosh, this kinda sucks. I mean, I was planning to just have a good time and relax in the pool for a while…but Neji just had to be here! I mean, it's not like I don't like being near him or anything…he just makes me nervous sometimes…not to mention I'm a bit self-conscious of myself in this bikini…I'm not normally this self-conscious…but Neji can make anybody nervous…' _Ten Ten shuddered at the thought.

"Ten Ten, you look nice today," Neji suddenly said in a casual tone of voice. He draped his arm at the back of the pool, his white eyes still looking at her nonchalantly.

"H-Hah? Excuse me, Neji?" Ten Ten sat up a bit from her position in the pool, tucking her hair behind her ears with a bewildered look on her face. _'What the-! What has gotten into Neji-kun? I must've misheard something.'_

"I said, you look nice," he repeated calmly. _'I don't even have any idea why I said that,' _Neji thought, his face expression never changing.

"Oh…thank you, then," Ten Ten smiled slightly blushing. "You probably look nice too.

_'W-Wow. I hadn't misheard? He actually COMPLIMENTED me? That is a rare happening,' _Ten Ten thought, a bit shocked (but pleased).

The Hyuuga raised his eyebrows.

"Probably?"

"Well…What I meant was…" Ten Ten didn't know how to answer.

She took another look at him. _'Hmm…well…Neji's shirtless…WHAT! Shirtless!' _Ten Ten's eyes got wide when she finally realized the truth of the awkward situation. Not only was she in a bikini with Neji, she was also in the same pool with him and he was _shirtless_. Now that, that had to mean something significant, something Ten Ten didn't want to admit. The something significant was that Ten Ten had always had a secret liking for the Hyuuga. She didn't want to admit that she found this moment enjoyable. Moreover, she didn't want to admit that he looked good, for a shirtless guy.

"Y-You don't look half-bad," Ten Ten finally replied. _'Gosh, no! I'm stammering so much I'm turning into a SECOND Hinata-chan!'_

Neji chuckled a bit. "Stubborn, aren't you?" The Hyuuga leaned deeper into the water.

Again, Ten Ten reddened.

"Let's talk about something else," Ten Ten offered pouting a bit.

"Up to you."

"Well uhh…how's your training going?" Ten Ten could not think of anything more interesting to say. _'Uhh…that was SO lame. SO DAMN LAME.'_

"Usual," Neji sat up a little. "Why're you always so interested in my training?"

"Because…well, first of all, you're my teammate. And, well, I have to admit I admire you even more than I admire Lee because, well, you're…good," replied Ten Ten, her face flushing a little.

"Thank you, then, teammate," Neji said, smiling a little.

Then, it went silent again for a long time until Ten Ten spoke up again.

"Why'd you hide behind that rock before I came?" she asked curiously.

Neji hesitated answering for a moment. When Ten Ten thought that he wasn't going to answer after all, he spoke.

"To watch you." Neji was unaccustomed to lying to a _teammate._

"Why?"

Neji shrugged. "I don't know."

Before Ten Ten could reply, a loud _splash _resounded in the water. Turning her head, she saw that it was Lee who had jumped in. Shino was behind him and was preparing to slide into the pool. Even when he was going into the pool, Shino's sunglasses were still on. _'Sometimes it makes me so curious as to what his eyes would look like!' _Ten Ten thought of Shino.

"Oh, Ten Ten-chan! You look beautiful today!" Lee cried out, blew Ten Ten his trademark kiss, and began to swim a perfect backstroke towards her.

"Hi, Lee! Thanks! Haven't seen you in a while!" Ten Ten cried out happily. "Hi too, Shino," she added.

Shino nodded in reply as he sat in the pool.

"And greetings to you, my teammate Neji!" Lee cried cheerfully.

"Hn. The peace ruined," the Hyuuga gracefully brushed his long hair from his face.

"Ah, cheerful as usual, Hyuuga!" Lee said with a hint of sarcasm.

Suddenly, Neji, stood up from the pool walked out.

"H-Hey! Neji! Where're you going?" Ten Ten asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.

She didn't want him to go, not now, not just yet.

"I'm already finished. I'm going to wash up. Do you want to come?" Neji stopped and asked her without turning around.

"Y-Yea! Hey, bye, Lee!" Ten Ten answered after a little bit of hesitation.

Once Ten Ten and Neji were gone, Lee just sighed and turned to Shino, who was still sitting there, watching quietly.

"This always happens, Shino. Ten Ten _always, always _fancy spending time with that Hyuuga over me," Lee sighed again, then gave a small smile. "But that's life, huh? Still got Sakura-chan."

For the first time in a long, long while, Shino actually spoke. Rather, he _asked._

"Lee, are those two an item?"

"What? You mean Ten Ten and Neji? What do you mean 'an item'?" Lee asked, confused.

"Meaning are they a couple," Shino replied. "As in boyfriend and girlfriend."

Lee thought for a while.

"I don't know. Not sure. But whenever me and Neji has a fight, Ten Ten sure likes to side with Neji," Lee said, pouting a little at the thought. "But that doesn't matter! The power of youth rules over all!"

"Oh, okay then," Shino answered in a somewhat satisfied tone.

"Why?"

"She's hot," Shino answered simply.

"Yea, I kno-" Lee paused, his eyes popping out of his head as realization dawned on him. "WHAT! You, _Shino_, the forever-unemotional _freaky bug guy…_OH, MAN! Don't tell me…"

Shino raised his eyebrows at the exasperated Lee. "What's your problem?"

"DON'T tell me you're gonna be hittin' on Ten Ten!" Lee almost shouted.

Shino shrugged. "Why not? She's single and pretty."

Now, Lee was fuming. "I am NOT going to let you onto my teammate! I'd rather have Neji with her than you with her!"

"Why?"

"Because…I don't know why, but I just think they fit together better! I, the green beast of Konoha Hot Springs, will stop your evil plan!" Lee posed in the midst of the steaming pool with a determined look on his face.

"Okay. Try," again, Shino shrugged, not even bothered by Lee's previous statement.

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Sweat ran down Ino's face as she worked on the running treadmill. She looked over at the pink-haired companion next to her, who was currently vigorously spinning an exercise bike. Ino and Sakura were currently in the fitness center of the Konoha Hot Springs. The morning after the 'Sasuke Incident', Ino had tried her best to cheer Sakura up. And, Sakura had tried her best to forget about 'that bastard Sasuke' (according to Ino) and be happy about her reunited friendship with Ino.

As most people are informed, Ino is very concerned (you could say obsessed) about her fitness (or rather, thinness). So, Ino had dragged Sakura to the place where she would always release her stress—the fitness. A small smile crept onto Ino's face when she looked over at Sakura's face. Sakura seemed to be concentrating more on spinning the bike than worrying about some guy. After about twenty more minutes of their working out (with Sakura changing the exercise equipment from the exercise bike to the rowing machine), Ino began to gradually slow down.

"Let's stop, Sakura-chan. I'm tired now," puffed Ino, jumping down from her running treadmill.

Sakura nodded, stood up, and stretched.

"Ahh…this feels so good, doesn't it, Ino?"

"Yea, it does," Ino paused, considering for a moment. "Uhh…well, actually, no. But I'm doing it anyway because it makes me thin."

Sakura giggled.

"Never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad we're friends again," Sakura said happily.

Ino grinned. She was somewhat proud that she had at least managed to cheer her pink-haired friend up.

"Ya, I'm glad too."

The two girls gathered their stuff and began to walk out of the fitness room. Well, who should be there but Sasuke, walking pass them in the other direction. Sakura's world froze momentarily. _'He looks the same as always. It's as if nothing ever happened,' _Sakura thought, her heart dropping to the ground. However, Sakura was determined not to show her weakness any longer. The pink-haired shinobi's face turned into a replica of Sasuke's face—cold and hardened. Apparently, Ino was thinking the same thing. _'I won't let my friend or my friendship be hurt ever again,' _the blonde thought, giving a glare Sasuke's way as he walked pass.

"Sakura-chan, wanna go hang out at the spa with me?" Ino said in a loud haughty tone, making sure Sasuke would hear.

The Uchiha behind them continued to walk as if he didn't hear anything. But Ino knew that he had heard. _'This is good for the game. NOW he'll know Sakura-chan doesn't care about his stupid attitude!' _smirked Ino in triumph.

"Sure, Ino-chan, that'd be fun," replied Sakura in a pretend-casual tone, completing the scene.

**Joyce: **I'm sorry (again) for the late update! There were exams and I had to study. Geography exams was so hard! Had to remember the whole world map and the test had about 500+ questions with only and hour and a half to do them! I could answer all the questions but there weren't enought time:( Neways, please review! I am sincerely grateful for all your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. Thank you :D


	8. Birthday Preparations

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter VIII: Birthday Preparations_**

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata shook the sleeping boy on the bed. "Please wake up."

The blonde fox-boy shifted from his position but didn't wake up. Hinata sighed.

"N-Naruto-kun? Today's your birthday, don't you remember?" Hinata said timidly.

Hearing the word 'birthday' vaguely in his mind, Naruto pried one eye open.

"Eh?"

"I-It's your birthday today, Naruto-kun," Hinata repeated. "Wouldn't you like to wake up?"

"OH!" Naruto sprang up excitedly from his bed. "YEA!"

He turned to Hinata, flashed her an adoring smile, and pulled her in to a crushing hug.

"N-Naruto!" Hinata cried out in embarrassed surprise.

"That's my birthday hug for you, babe!" Naruto smiled cheerfully, making Hinata blush.

"Aw, don't tell me you didn't like it," the blonde boy faked a pout. "And where's my birthday kiss?"

This made Hinata blush even harder. The Hyuuga heir quickly got up from the bed.

"N-Naruto-kun, I-I'll be downstairs, helping preparing for your birthday. P-Please come down at about noontime," Hinata stammered, quickly turning around to hide her red face and starting out the door.

Suddenly, Hinata felt something tug at her wrist. It was Naruto, grinning teasingly (yet again) at her. His eyes told her that he wasn't planning to release her anytime soon.

"But where's my birthday kiss, Hinata-chan?" Naruto walked up closer to her, saying all this in a seductive whisper.

Hinata couldn't find the strength to speak, let alone even stammer. Now, his face was so close to hers that their lips could almost be touching. Hinata's face was on burning fire. Suddenly, pinched Hinata's cheek and his face changed from its previous serious expression to a playful expression.

"Hahaha, caught you again, Hinata!" Naruto smiled at her cutely.

"Y-You're being mean again, N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata tried to resist her urge to just give him a 'birthday kiss'.

Naruto laughed good-heartedly and released his grip from her wrist.

"I'll let you go this time, Hinata-chan, but you still owe me a birthday kiss!"

"I-I'll be going now," again, Hinata blushed prettily as she backed up and went out the door.

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As Naruto was showering and preparing to come down, almost everyone was busily preparing for the birthday party. Aunt Midori and Hinata was helping out in the main kitchen to prepare for the food while Ino, Sakura, and Lee were busy with the decorations.

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**Over in Shikamaru's Section (arranging the tables and chairs)**

Shikamaru lazily dragged over two chairs and put it in coordination with the table.

"Hah. Finished now. How troublesome," the Nara genius muttered under his breath.

"Finished your ass, Nara _genius_," came a voice behind him.

Shikamaru's hair pricked up on the back of his neck. He knew that voice only too well. The only woman scarier than his own mother. _'Temari.'_

"What's wrong, woman," Shikamaru casually stated as he turned around to face her.

"What's wrong? What's wrong. Very funny. Open your eyes once in a while and look at what you're doing. There are_ eight _chairs on that side of the table. There are _seven _on this side. Go get one more. Oh, and don't forget that you need _tablecloth_," the spicy sand ninja said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Shikamaru sighed.

"Look, woman, you don't need to get _that _upset over the loss of one measly chair," Shikamaru gave her an exasperated look.

Temari glared back.

"Go get that chair and tablecloth before I'm going to _kiss _you again, just like _last night, remember?_" Temari said in a triumphant tone.

She knew that he was uncomfortable about this kind of stuff. Sure enough, the Nara's face turned bright red. After muttering his trademark 'how troublesome' remark, he walked off to get the chair and the tablecloth. A few moments later, Shikamaru came back with the stuff. He pushed in the last chair while Temari spread out the tablecloth.

"Ahh, finished," Shikamaru remarked again, forgetting that Temari was still there with him.

She gave him a disapproving look.

"What, not satisfied yet?" Shikamaru tiredly asked her.

"No."

"What else then?"

"Silverware," Temari placed both hands on her hips. "Go get 'em."

Shikamaru couldn't take in the _nerve _of this woman any longer. He had NEVER in his WHOLE LIFE met anyone this arrogant and bossy. Well, he wasn't about to have some woman step all over him. He wasn't a genius for nothing.

"No, I won't," with that, Shikamaru lazily sat down on the chair that he had just brought.

Temari's face told him that she was running out of patience.

"I _said, _go get them," Temari said in a warning tone.

"Why should I?" he looked up into her face, his eyes lazy but stubborn.

Temari fumed.

"Do you want me to _kiss _you, huh? Like _last night?_ You were _so red,_" Temari threatened, trying to make Shikamaru embarrassed so that he would give in.

Inside, Shikamaru was as humiliated as hell but he kept that from showing in his face.

"Fine, go on. I don't mind," he replied, standing up and looking down into her bewildered face. "Would you mind making it a _French _kiss this time?"

Temari was shocked. She was so angry that she lifted up her fist and tried to punch him. Fortunately, Shikamaru caught her fist in time and twisted it around her back.

"Where's your bravado act now, woman?" Shikamaru drawled as he tightened his grip.

"What do you think you're doing?" a pissed off voice interrupted from behind them.

It was Kankurou who had shouted. Gaara was coming up behind his brother.

"How troublesome."

"Let go of Temari," Gaara stated, an edgy hint to his voice.

Shikamaru sighed again. _'How troublesome. I'm just not in the mood for a fight.' _With that thought, he released Temari, but not before he lazily drawled something into her ear.

"I still win this, woman. I'm a _genius_, after all."

"Shut up," she hissed back and walking back towards her two brothers.

"Don't mess with my sister again, Nara. Or you'll die a painful death," Kankurou threatened.

Gaara just glared, his eyes giving the same message.

"Yea, yea," the Nara replied carelessly. _'Troublesome woman, with even more troublesome brothers,'_ he thought.

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**Over in Neji's section (preparing the cocktails)**

Despite what other people might think of Hyuuga Neji, he was surprisingly good at preparing cocktails. Back at the Hyuuga mansion, where Hinata prepared the tea all the time, Neji always was the one preparing the cocktails and special drinks for his other family members. Neji was at the cocktail stand, shaking the drink in his hand. Next to him was Ten Ten, who was supposedly now his cocktail apprentice. When she asked him if she might learn how to prepare a drink, he surprisingly accepted.

"Neji, for the Avocado Daiquiri…how much ice?" Ten Ten asked, preparing to pour in a bit a light rum.

Immediately, Neji caught her hand before she could pour anything into the cocktail shaker.

"The golden rule of a bartender is to never, _never _put the liquor in before you put the ice. This is so that all the ingredients can be cooled by the ice properly," Neji calmly explained as he took the rum bottle out of her hand. "You also don't want to the drink to be too strong. It's still early."

He bent down for the bucket of ice and scooped up one cup.

"One cup of ice for the Avocado Daiquiri," he stated, handing the cup to her.

Ten Ten took the cup and poured it into the cocktail shaker.

"Okay, thanks. Now, what?" she asked.

"Some lime juice should do," Neji replied, turning around to look for the lime juice.

Apparently, the place where the bowl of lime juice was supposed to be was empty. Instead, somebody was holding it. When the Hyuuga looked up, he saw that that someone was Shino.

"Ten Ten-chan, the lime juice," Shino said unemotionally, handing the bowl to Ten Ten.

"Thanks, Shino!"

Neji was somewhat annoyed that Shino just had to come and interrupt his lesson. But, the Hyuuga decided to ignore it and continued to give instructions.

"Ten Ten, you need to put-"

"Put in ¾ ounces of that lime juice," Shino finished for him.

Neji was getting annoyed.

"Get lost, Aburame. You are interrupting my lesson," Neji shot a look towards the buy guy's way.

"I'm trying to help her here, Hyuuga," Shino replied, his face as same as always.

Ten Ten looked in between the two guys nervously. _'Oh, no I don't want a fight to start now! Why, oh why did Shino have to interrupt!'_

"Um, Shino…thanks a lot for offering to help me, but I think Neji can help me," Ten Ten spoke up uncertainly.

She tried to sound as grateful as she could. Neji smirked.

"Whatever you say, Ten Ten-chan," Shino simply replied and walked off. "But only because you say so."

After that, Neji and Ten Ten resumed preparing their cocktail.

"So you prefer me over him?" Neji asked as he put the lime juice into the shaker.

Ten Ten looked surprised.

"Of course, Neji. You're my teammate, after all," Ten Ten replied, her face turning slightly pink, even though she had said nothing embarrassing.

Neji turned and gave her one of his rare smiles.

"Good, then."

In the background, Lee smiled. _'Yes! Shino's hitting on Ten Ten didn't even work!'_

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**Over in Kiba and Akamaru's section (organizing the electronics)**

"Hey, Akamaru, hand me the plug for this microphone," Kiba told his dog while examining another random plug.

"Woof!"

Akamaru ran and carried the plug in his mouth to Kiba.

"Hah. Thanks, Akamaru," the boy plugged in the plug and tried to test it. "One, two, three. Testing. One, two, three."

"Woof?"

"Yea, works fine, Akamaru. Just wait, my friend. Today I'll be the ultimate spotlight of the party with this microphone."

"Woof, woof!" Akamaru cried in agreement.

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As for Sasuke, he's probably out brooding somewhere.

**Joyce: **MORE reviews please! I need them! It's so fun to read! Yea, that's all :D


	9. Birthday Party and presents!

Disclaimer: I do no own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

_**Chapter IX: Birthday Party (and presents)!**_

Naruto looked in his mirror, observing himself. _'Eh, no, hair needs a bit more energy.' _He grabbed the gel bottle on the table and put some gel on his hair. Observing himself one more time, he let out a satisfied grin.

"Ah, there. No one better than the birthday boy," he grinned cheerily.

He turned to look at the clock on the wall. It read 12:10. _'Yea, time to go.' _With that, Naruto made his way out of his room and down the stairs of the building. Strangely, everything was quiet in the hallway. Naruto couldn't spot any of his friends, just a few of the other guests who had come stay at the Konoha Hot Springs.

_'Hmm…where could they be?' _Naruto thought, furrowing his brow.

Seeing Aunt Midori at the counter, he walked up to her.

"Ohayou, Auntie! Have you seen any of my friends?"

"Oh, yes dear. They're all in the back yard," the old lady said pleasantly. "That door over there."

"Thanks, Auntie!" Naruto cried cheerfully, running towards the door that the old lady had just pointed to.

Naruto walked down the path that led to the back yard. Everything was still quiet, just like a normal day. However, when he turned the last corner, a big sound erupted.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY NARUTO-KUN!"

Naruto's eyes widened in excitement at the sight of all of his friends wishing happy birthday to him. A big sign hung above all of them, with the words "Happy Birthday, Naruto!" People even had party hats on them, with the exception of Sasuke and Neji. Sakura started to run over to him.

"Hey, Naruto-kun! Happy birthday! Here's your party hat!" the pink-haired girl cried cheerfully while placing the party hat on his head.

"Yea, thanks, Sakura-chan! Thanks, you guys!" Naruto smiled.

"Yea, man! One year older!" Shikamaru patted him friendly on the back.

"Heeyyyyyyyy people! Birthday party's staarrrrrrtting! Ladies and gennnntlemen! Please take your seats!" Kiba cried out into the microphone.

Shikamaru slapped himself in the forehead. "Gosh, he's been 'king of the microphone' all afternoon. How troublesome."

Naruto laughed.

"Hahaha, well, anyways, let's do what the 'king of the microphone' says."

So, everyone did as the 'king' ordered. As Naruto sat down, he saw Ino, Sakura, Temari, and Hinata coming towards all of them with bowls of…Naruto's eyes widened. _'Ramen. Ramen. Ramen!' _Sure enough, it was ramen.

"Annnnnnnnnnnd, our first course isssss…RAMEN!" Kiba's voice boomed into the microphone.

Kiba then bent down to let Akamaru have a say in it.

"WOOF!" Akamaru's woof sounded loudly through the microphone.

"Yay, my favorite!" Naruto cried out in pure bliss and began gulping the stuff down.

Hinata smiled shyly, mainly because she'd made that ramen. Sakura giggled.

"Yea, of course. We knew you liked ramen so that's what the party food is!" Sakura laughed.

Over in Gaara's side of the table, he was just staring at the food.

"Uh, brother, it's not very polite to sit there and just…stare," Kankurou said hushedly to his brother.

"Oh. I see," Gaara then picked up his chopsticks.

"Go on, try it, Gaara," Temari, who was next to him, encouraged.

Gaara nodded and put some of the ramen in his mouth. Kankurou and Temari looked expectantly at his face. Gaara's opinion of the food didn't show in his face at all. His face expression was the same as always, but the red head just continued eating the food.

"Must mean he likes it," Kankurou whispered to Temari.

She nodded, somewhat hesitantly. "Yea, I would think so too."

On Naruto's side of the table, he was fully enjoying his time. Hinata was curiously seated next to him (he had dragged her there to sit with him). Now, everyone was starting to finish the ramen. Sasuke was seated across from Naruto, finishing the ramen but with the usual gloomy look on his face.

"Hey, man! Why so gloomy? My birthday, man!" Naruto said cheerfully after gulping down his ramen.

"Whatever," Sasuke replied, not looking up and continuing to eat.

"Whoa, that was SO polite for Sasuke, ne, Hinata-chan?" Naruto chose to ignore Sasuke and turned to Hinata.

Surprisingly, she was not seated there next to him anymore.

"Hey! Where's Hinata-chan?" Naruto looked around.

However, a few minutes later, Naruto spotted Hinata coming towards their table with a big, three-layer cake in her hand. A _chocolate _three layer cake. Naruto's eyes practically popped out of its sockets.

"Woohoo! There comes mah cake!" he shouted in delight.

"Annnnnnnnnd….the CAKE! THE SUPREME CAKE! WELCOME THE CAKE!..." Kiba's voice exploded through the microphone again.

Hinata smiled sheepishly and set the cake on the table while the maids of the Konoha Hot Springs began to collect the ramen bowls. Soon enough, everyone began to crowd around where Naruto was seated and began to sing him 'happy birthday'. Even though everyone was singing, you could only hear Kiba's (and Akamaru's) voice because he was practically yelling over the microphone. Unexpectantly, Kiba's voice wasn't all that bad (although it was annoying, in Shikamaru's terms).

Now, skipping all of the detailed birthday moments that happened (like Kiba refusing to share his cake with Akamaru because chocolate was poisonous to dogs and Sakura and Ino giving Sasuke the 'silent treatment'), soon, it was time for the presents ("Tiiiiiiiiiiiiime for presents! WOOF!" goes Kiba and Akamaru).

"Yay! I'm so excited, guys! Wonder what I'll get!" Naruto exclaimed, rubbing his hands together enthusiastically. "Now, who's present is first?"

"Mine, Naruto, minnne!"

It was Lee who had spoken, setting a big, green, and elaborately wrapped box in front of Naruto. The golden box was ridiculously big, but elegant in girl terms. Again, everyone crowded in to see. Naruto shook the box, a confused expression on his face.

"Hmm…what is it?"

"Open it and you'll find out, Naruto!" Sakura said, impatient but excited.

"Yea…" Naruto tugged at the bow on top of the box.

When Naruto lifted the lid off, he saw (yes, you guessed it) a green jumpsuit just like Lee's! The blonde fox-boy was speechless.

"W-Whoa!" Naruto spoke at last. "Thanks, Lee!"

"Yea, your welcome, man!" Lee flashed Naruto his trademark smile. "Welcome to the green-suit gang."

In the background, Sasuke snickered (without Lee or Naruto seeing). However, his rude gesture was not ignored by either Sakura or Ino. First, Ino gave Sasuke a disgusted look and turned to Sakura, whispering something into the pink-shinobi's ear. Sakura briefly glanced over at Sasuke and tried to imitate Ino's 'disgusted' look (even though she really had to force herself to do that).

"He's SO rude," Ino pretended to whisper loudly so that the Uchiha would hear.

"Yea, I know," Sakura replied in the same 'exasperated' tone.

And Sasuke pretended not to hear. Anyway, after that, it was Kankurou's turn to give his present. The gift was contained in an ancient looking wooden box, which opened to reveal an astonishing set of animal puppets laid on silky red cloth. There were toad puppets, snail puppets, dog puppets, and even snake puppets.

"Aww…that's so cute!" Sakura cried. "Especially the baby snake one!"

"Wow, I really like it, Kankurou, thanks, man!" Naruto remarked, smiling happily.

"Yea, well, it was nothing," the normally rude puppet master appeared to be blushing slightly.

Next, Chouji gave Naruto ten gift vouchers for the ramen stand back home (which was replied with a maniacally happy Naruto shouting his head off). Ten Ten's present coordinated nicely with Chouji's, for it was ten pairs of Chinese chopsticks ("For eating your ramen!" Ten Ten had said). Neji and Hinata gave one gift for both of them. It was a big, furry jacket, identical to the one that Hinata almost always wore, but instead, it was black.

"Oooooh, I love this!" Naruto said for like, the hundredth time that evening. "Thanks! Now I can be a matching pair with Hinata-chan!"

Naruto turned to give Hinata a cute smile (making Hinata blush, _of course_) and unexpectantly hugged the girl.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan," Naruto repeated again.

However, the blonde was unaware of the dangerous aura on the other side of him, coming from none other than Hyuuga Neji.

"Uhh…Naruto…" Ten Ten tried to warn Naruto, her other hand holding Neji's shoulder, so the Hyuuga won't do anything bad to Naruto.

"Yea?" Naruto turned to Ten Ten's voice but was faced with Neji and his dangerous aura.

"Even if it's your birthday, that doesn't mean you can shamelessly flirt with Hinata-sama," Neji's voice was dangerously low.

"Eh…yea. Gotcha," Naruto quickly released Hinata, giving the male Hyuuga a sheepish smile (and all this time, Hinata is, of course, still reddening).

And so, the gift-giving went on, with Shino giving Naruto some sunglasses (earning another snicker from Sasuke and another set of 'disgusted looks' from Sakura and Ino) and Temari giving Naruto a fan decorated with a beautiful picture of the Konoha view ("…Believe me, you'll find this useful someday," the sand shinobi had said; while now, it was Shikamaru's turn to snicker).

Unfortunately, Temari was not the kind to just ignore it when someone had just _snickered _at her.

"Why, what's wrong, _genius_? You got anything better than my present?" Temari glared at the Nara while speaking, her hands on her hips.

_'How troublesome.'_

"Yea, I believe so," Shikamaru ventured, replying with a lazy stare.

"Show me then."

The Nara brought out his present from where it was behind his back. It was a big, flat, rectangular box. It was wrapped.

"Ohh, I know what that is," Chouji said immediately when he saw the box.

Naruto opened the curiously flat but big box to reveal a Go board, complete with all the black and white stones and the instructions (A/N: For those of you who don't know what Go is, it's a kind of board game originated in ancient China).

"Urm…what's this?" Naruto picked up the bag of white stones from the set and shook it.

"It's a Go board. It's a board game," Shikamaru replied, looking triumphantly over at Temari. "What do you think?"

"Great! I'll try to learn how to play it!" Naruto answered, although the question was directed more towards Temari.

"Huh. I still think my gift is better than some useless board game," Temari was still glaring at Shikamaru.

Normally, Shikamaru wouldn't have argued if it was concerning some other business. But this, _this _was concerning Go, his possibly favorite game in the whole wide world. Chouji's eyes widened. Chouji knew what it was like when someone insulted the Nara's revered game.

"Go is _NOT_ a useless game, woman!" for the first time, Temari heard Shikamaru raise his voice above the normal level. "It's a game of strategy, logic…"

Somehow, Temari didn't feel like arguing. She found that she didn't particularly like it when she argued with the Nara. Although the vain sand shinobi would never admit it, she liked it a lot better when they got along. But, there were some times when arguing was amusing. Now, however, Temari realized that she'd crossed the line between 'amusing' and 'annoying'.

"Fine," Temari huffed, cutting Shikamaru off.

Shikamaru was a bit surprised. He thought that Temari would argue back. He had just made up a whole list of 'Why-Go-is-the-Most-Brilliant-Game-in-the-World' to present to her.

_'Heh. Quite smart, isn't she. Knows when to stop. 'Cause she'll lose if she argues with me on this topic.'_

So, Shikamaru just answered with a simple, "Good, then."

All this while, Naruto and the others were looking to and fro between Shikamaru and Temari. When the victims realized that they were being stared at, both of them suspiciously reddened.

"What the heck are you staring at, huh?" Temari said hotly. "Stop staring! Or I'll kill you!"

"Yea, let's see who's next!" Shikamaru said a little too loudly, causing Sakura and Ino to raise their eyebrows and look at each other.

"I think they'll make a great couple," Sakura whispered to Ino.

Ino nodded. Fortunately, Shikamaru and Temari didn't witness any of the talking behind their backs.

"Yay! I'm the happiest guy in da world!" Naruto stretched. "Any more presents?"

Then, Kankurou tapped Naruto lightly on the back.

"Hmm?" Naruto asked.

"Umm…Gaara wants to give you something."

Apparently, Gaara, for all his bravery in fighting, couldn't gather up enough courage to give what he was about to give to Naruto.

**Joyce: **Yay, guys, thanks for all your reviews! Yea, and I'm sorry if I don't put in enough romance in these later chapters; I know a lot of you have been waiting for it...I'll really, really try to put in more romance! I'm normally not a romance writer...I'm a humor writer so...hehehehe :S bear with me, please. :D I love all of you! You give me so much encouragement! Again, thanks:)


	10. The Party Continues

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter X: The Party Continues_**

"Oh. Really?" Naruto cheerfully turned to the red head. "You have a present for me?"

Gaara silently nodded and brought out a plastic bag. He reached his hand into the bag and brought out something that made everybody stunned. Naruto, especially, since it was _his _present.

"W-Why, thanks, man!" Naruto's stunned face broke into a wide grin as he grabbed the present from Gaara's offering hand.

The gift was carved out of hard sand. It was a perfectly formed statue of…a naked…girl? It looked suspiciously a lot like Naruto's sexy no jutsu form. And the girl was holding…a ramen bowl in her hand!

_'So…when I told Gaara that Naruto liked ramen and using the sexy no jutsu…this is what he made out of it!' _Chouji thought, thoroughly observing the statue with a slightly comical face.

In fact, all the males there were 'thoroughly' observing the arm-length sand statue. It was beautiful. _Naked_, but beautiful. Although Kankurou would never admit it, he was quite proud of what his brother had brought out of Chouji's little information about Naruto. Suddenly, Temari spoke up.

"G-Gaara. Where did you get this idea!" The redhead's elder sister's was a bit shaky, like out of impatience.

"Chouji."

Temari's eyes narrowed towards Chouji.

"You! What did you put into my brother's head!" Temari shouted maniacally while Kankurou and Shikamaru tried to hold her back.

"Hey, calm down, sister! I was there! Chouji was just telling Gaara what Naruto liked-" Kankurou was interrupted by a glaring Temari.

"You! You were there? And you supported putting ideas such as these into Gaara's head?"

Temari's looks could definitely kill.

"Easy, woman!" Shikamaru tried to hold Temari back. "Easy. At least, look on the bright side. Naruto likes it, right?"

"Hmf. Fine."

_'Whoa. Maybe Shikamaru's not so bad after all. At least he's the only one who can stop Temari's tantrums,' _thought Kankurou, relieved that his sister has stopped.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still gloating over the sand statue. Gaara observed Naruto closely all this while.

"What do you think?" the red head asked after a long while.

"What do I think? I love it! Ah, yes, my lovely self displayed in a statue…I'm hotter than I thought," Naruto grinned. "Thanks, Gaara."

Gaara just nodded in acceptance.

"W-Wow. Gaara…I think you have to watch out being with Naruto too much. First, it's Jiraiya-sama affecting Naruto's brain too much and now Naruto has affected your brain," Sakura spoke up, still a bit shocked at Gaara's bold (but beautiful) present.

"I will watch," Gaara answered nonchalantly.

"Gosh, that guy needs to learn basic social customs," Kiba whispered (not shouted, for the first time in the evening) into Neji's ear.

The Hyuuga just shrugged and continued looking at the statue (Ten Ten was looking…suspiciously pissed!).

"Anyway, Naruto, it's my turn! I've also got something for you! I don't know if you'll like it…but here," Sakura handed Naruto small box wrapped in pink flowery paper.

Inside,there was a silver chain necklace with a squarish locket attached to it. When Naruto opened, it, he saw that there was a picture of Team 7 in it—him, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, and Sasuke. The gift, little though it was, touched him.

"Aww…Sakura, thanks," Naruto smiled.

"Yea, it's good that you like it," Sakura smiled back.

In the background, Sasuke was a bit pissed, mainly because his picture was in there and he did not like being caught in a photo. It was even worse for him because everyone was crowding around to see the picture. Kiba, who was behind every body else, was trying to push everyone out of the way to see what picture it was.

"Hey, hey, move over, people! I haven't had a chance to see what's in that locket!" Kiba said (into the microphone).

"Oh, it's just a picture of Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, Sasuke, and I," Sakura informed him, smiling again.

"Oh. Okay."

Somehow, this pissed off Sasuke even more, even though he had no idea why. It pissed the Uchiha off that Sakura didn't seem pressured saying his name. It pissed him off that she didn't put in the usual 'kun' at the end for his name. Heck, she didn't even put his name in any special order when speaking about him. Normally, he knew, his name was supposed to come first, something like "_Sasuke-kun_, Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, and I", but now, now…_ 'Whatever. I deserve it. For telling her off like that.' _Either way, the Uchiha was still pissed (even though he'd never admit it).

"Hey, Sakura-chan…help put this around my neck…" Naruto fussed with the chain.

"Okay, Naruto-kun…" then, Sakura stopped, as if she just remembered something. "Actually, Hinata, why don't you help him put it on?"

Sakura winked at the white-eyed girl. She was smart enough to know that Hinata and Naruto had some kind of spark in between them. Meanwhile, Sasuke was still partly sulking.

_'Yea, yea. Naruto calls Sakura 'Sakura-chan' and Sakura calls Naruto 'Naruto-kun'. And I don't get anything. Yea,' _Sasuke was still pissed. _'Oh, that's **right**, just because I told her not to mess with me anymore. Whatever. Like I even care.' _

Naruto got Sakura's hint.

_'So Sakura-chan's noticed that I have something Hinata-chan, huh? Thanks then, Sakura-chan!' _Naruto thought, winking back at his pink-haired teammate.

"S-Sakura-chan! W-Why me?" Hinata stammered, her face pink.

Sakura just gave the Hyuuga girl a smile and shrugged. Hinata didn't know how to respond to this so she just timidly took the necklace and carefully hung it around Naruto's neck. When Hinata was finished and was about to lift up her hand, Naruto caught her hand.

"That's right, Hinata-chan, I happen to remember…where's my _birthday kiss? Hmm?_" Naruto beamed sweetly up at the embarrassed girl.

"N-Naruto-kun…I…I…umm…" The Hyuuga girl was at a loss for words.

Suddenly, a big bump landed on Naruto's head. It was Neji, who was apparently overprotective of his cousin.

"What the-! What the heck did you do that for!" Naruto turned around to face Neji, still rubbing his sore head.

"The next time I see you flirting with my cousin…" a murderous aura came from the Hyuuga male for the second time that even.

"Uh…hehehehehe…okay…." Naruto released Hinata's hand, but not before flashing her another one of his killer smiles.

After that, Ino proceeded to give Naruto a night cap in flower patterns ('cause she knew that Naruto liked to wear night caps) and Sasuke gave Naruto some kunai (special ones, a bit better than the normal ones, since it was a birthday occasion, after all). Then, the time came for the last present of the day.

"Noooowwwwww, ladies and gentlemen! The time for my present!" Kiba's voice boomed into the microphone.

Everyone looked over at the dog-boy in slight annoyance (except Naruto). Kiba reached down and got up a box from under the table. The box had holes punched into it.

"Don't tell me that what's inside…needs oxygen?" Sakura leaned over curiously closer to the box.

Kiba nodded. "Open it, Naruto."

When Naruto opened the box, he found a dog inside, as suspected. It was a white Shih Tzu with a big, red bow tied all around it.

"Whoa thanks, Kiba! I always wanted a pet!" Naruto brought out the little dog and began to pet it. "What's his name?"

Kiba sweatdropped.

"It's a _she. _The name's up to you."

"Hmm…I don't know…how about…Ramen?"

Everyone sweatdropped. Inner Sakura: 'Can he _seriously _not think of any other name!'

"Umm…Naruto…I don't even think Ramen is a girl name," Sakura remarked with an unconvinced look.

"Aww, that's okay, it's still cute, isn't it?" Naruto was now cuddling Ramen.

Inner Sakura: '_Seriously_….gosh….oh, well. It's his birthday after all.'

Now, again, Kiba's voice exploded into the microphone.

"Okay, dudes and dudettes (Author's note: Yea, somehow, he's changed from the usual 'ladies and gentlemen')! Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime to retire for the evening! But don't forget, the party's not over! Party at the night bar downstairs starts at eight! We gonna have some funnnn!"

"Yay!" Ino cheered. "Sakura-chan! Let's go dress up and look nice!"

"Yea, sure!" Sakura smiled back, hiding all trace of the nagging that was going on at the back of her mind.

_'Maybe the party'll make me cheer up about Sasuke…'_

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At about eight-thirty that evening, Sakura and Ino came downstairs from their room. Yes, they were thirty minutes late because Ino had insisted on perfecting her make-up. Both of the girls were dressed to kill. At least, Ino was. Ino was dressed in a sexy red dress while Sakura was just wearing a pink yukata. At least, the yukata was something fitting to wear for an evening at the Konoha Hot Springs. Besides, both of the girls looked pretty all the same.

When the girls entered the bar room, everyone was already partying. They spotted Kiba at one end of the room (obviously already drunk) wooing at some random girls who had also come to the night bar also. Strangely, anti-social though he was, Gaara at the other side of the room was also surrounded by a hoard of girls. Sakura seriously wondered if the guy was drunk.

Anyway, Ino soon departed when Kankurou (who was obviously, also partly-drunk) came and asked for a dance. The blonde quickly accepted, although a bit surprised at why he would ask her. Nevertheless, Ino was not someone who would give up having a dance. So now, Sakura was left all alone. She looked around the room, trying to find some people she recognized. She spotted Naruto sitting at he same table as Hinata, Shikamaru having a staring contest with Temari... _'All couples…,' _Sakura thought. _'I'd rather not go interrupt them.'_

With that, Sakura decided to go get a drink instead. A light drink, something that won't get her drunk. When the bartender said they didn't have anything 'not drunk', she just asked for plain water. _'Gosh, at least they have plain water,' _Sakura thought, drinking the water. Taking another look around the room, Sakura thought that she was dressed for the wrong party. Her yukata looked too conservative to the night bar's flashing colors and loud music.

So, she decided to walk out and get some fresh air. She didn't feel like dancing, anyway. Outside, Sakura sat on a bench, staring into space quietly. The silence brought back the thoughts of _that _night.

**F L A S H B A C K**

_"Why do you keep on trying? I always ignore you anyway. Don't you ever get it into you head that you're really annoying?" Sasuke looked at her with emotionless eyes._

**F L A S H B A C K**

Sakura was unaware that her eyes were getting a bit wet.

**F L A S H B A C K**

_"I-I get it Sasuke. Sorry for wasting your time all this time…I promise…I'll never annoy you again."_

**F L A S H B A C K**

A single tear made its way down her pale cheek. Suddenly realizing that she was crying, Sakura quickly wiped the tear off with her yukata sleeve.

_'Why do I have to think about this? Why do I care so much when he doesn't even care?'_

Sakura's eyes refused to be kept dry. Again, it was shedding tears. She was about to wipe them again with her sleeve when someone's hand touched her face. She spun around the bench to see Sasuke, looking down at her with a merciless face. He brushed off the wetness from her cheeks and slowly went to sit beside her on the bench.

"Why were you crying?"

_'Why does the last person I need to be here has to be here?' _Sakura refused to look into Sasuke's eyes.

"I wasn't…S-Something went in my eye," Sakura forced a smile, but still avoiding looking in his eyes.

A long silence complimented her answer. The soft night breeze blew Sakura's hair.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke broke the silence with a hoarse whisper.

Sakura stiffened. She didn't answer, so the stillness in the night continued.

"I thought…rejecting you would be best."

"Why?" Sakura's voice held no emotion, although her mind was in a blur.

"Remember that time when I fought with Naruto when he was trying to bring me back to the village?"

Sakura nodded, now turning to look at his eyes.

"…Sakura, I almost killed him, because he was my best friend. And all that was for power. If I had let you get closer to me…" Sasuke stopped, his voice unreadable. "…who knows if I will kill you someday."

Once more, Sakura was silent. The breeze blew the stray leaves on the ground.

"Then why are you apologizing to me?" Sakura's voice was hard.

"…because I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I thought that rejecting you would be best. You're too…good for me. I'm just an insane maniac who once yearned for power. I never wanted you to be hurt," he stopped, turning away from her. "But I see that doing this has made you hurt even more. So…I'm sorry."

After a long while, Sakura reached over to touch Sasuke's hand.

"I believe you won't hurt me, Sasuke-kun," she gave him a slight smile, although there were still traces of tears in her eyes. "You're not an insane maniac."

After a long while, he finally replied.

"Thanks."

Sakura slightly blushed.

"May I ask you one thing?"

"What?" he looked at her.

"Do you still think I'm annoying?"

He smirked. "Do you still like me?"

Sakura's face went as pink as her hair. There was a long pause.

"Y-Yes…" the answer that finally came was barely audible.

"Then yes, you're still annoying."

Sakura was about to protest, but Sasuke had pulled her into a hug.

"You're always annoying…"he repeated, then added quietly. "…But I like it."

This time, he released her from his hug and kissed her softly on the lips instead. Sakura blushed again. Even thought this was supposed to be her dream come true…she surely didn't know how to react.

"I…I'll go back in now," was her resolution.

Sakura quickly got up but a hand forcefully pulled her to sit back down.

"One more thing."

"Y-Yes?" the pink-haired girl colored even deeper, seeing his grip on her wrist.

"You look good."

She looked up at him, confused but still blushing.

"But only because I'm the one who bought you that yukata in the first place," he said, smirking.

Sakura looked down at her attire.

_'Oh, right, he bought this for me on the first day here…'_

Sasuke smirked again at Sakura's blushing face. He roughly pulled her in for another kiss, a deeper one this time.

_'His arrogance is back…this means that everything is back to normal,' _Sakura thought, her lips captured in another kiss.

**Joyce: **Yay, I loved all the reviews for the last chapter:D Left me smiling :)...yea...so I wanna know what you think again, so please don't forget to review! Love ya all. :)


	11. Mwa!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XI: Mwa!_**

Hinata sighed, looking around the room. She too, like Sakura, didn't feel like she fit in with this place. The night bar was just too wild and loud for the shy and timid Hyuuga. For the third time that evening, the girl glanced in the direction of her affections—Naruto, who was apparently the spotlight of the party. The blonde was now singing crazily on stage with a microphone in one hand and an alcoholic drink in the other.

_'Naruto…,' _Hinata sighed dreamily, not aware that a random stranger had just bumped into her.

"Hey, girl, watch where you're going," the big guy slurred.

The stranger took another look at her and whistled.

"Hey, hey, what's your name, baby? Wanna dance?" the guy gave Hinata a grin that sent goosebumps through her whole body.

"I-I…n-no t-thanks," Hinata stepped slightly backwards.

"Aww…come on, babe. No one says no to Big G," the guy grabbed Hinata's hand and attempted to pull the girl over to the dance floor.

"N-no…" Hinata whimpered, trying to wrestle her hand free from Big G's grip.

"Stop it!"

Hinata's and Big G's eyes widened at the voice that chorused throughout the room. It was as if there was more than one person saying it. A moment later, Hinata noticed two duplicates of Naruto holding Big G back and the third one punching the guy. The fourth duplicate was holding onto Hinata.

_'N-Naruto-kun just used the Kage Bunhsin no Jutsu!'_

"Did that guy do anything to you, Hinata-chan? Are you hurt?" the Naruto that was holding on to her asked her with a worried face.

"I-I'm fine, Naruto-kun. T-Thank you," Hinata replied, giving a shy smile.

Hinata looked towards the stage. The real Naruto was still there, singing maniacally, but now, he was looking at her. He gave her a wide smile and a thumbs up sign. Hinata blushed and just smiled back. A while later, Naruto was finished with his spotlight show on stage and he walked over to Hinata. The other clones of the blonde disappeared as he greeted the Hyuuga girl.

"Hey, Hinata-chan! Having fun?"

In fact, Hinata was not really having fun. The music hurt her ears and she was unaccustomed to so much alcoholic smells in the room. Not to mention that she had almost be abducted by a scary guy who called himself 'Big G'. But, still, there were some good points, like Naruto using the Kage Bunhsin no Jutsu to save her just a while ago. So, with a red face, Hinata shyly nodded.

Naruto smiled sweetly at her answer. Then, the blonde looked around for signs of the terrifying Hyuuga Neji. Naruto spotted Neji drinking by the cocktail stand, drunk as hell. The Hyuuga male was currently shouting at the bartender for more drinks. The fox-boy breathed out a sigh of relief.

_'Good, since Neji's pretty drunk…I guess he won't be able to kill me tonight.'_

"N-Naruto-kun? What are you looking for?" Hinata asked him, confused.

"Nothing, nothing at all, Hinata-chan," Naruto said good-naturedly.

Then, he took her hand. "Hinata-chan, would you like a dance?"

For the zillionth time that evening, Hinata's face colored.

"N-Naruto-kun…I-I don't know how to dance."

"That's okay, neither do I," Naruto took her other hand and led her to the dance floor.

A fast song was playing and everyone around the couple was dancing wildly. Hinata gulped.

"Don't be nervous, Hinata-chan…Just follow the beat," Naruto teasingly whispered in Hinata's ear.

Hinata didn't even notice when he had gotten this close to her. Going red in the face, Hinata stiffened slightly as Naruto put his other arm around her waist and began to rock back and forth gently. As if on cue, the fast song finished and now, a slow song began. After a while of doing this, Hinata ventured a look up into Naruto's face. To her embarrassment, he too was looking down at her. She quickly averted her eyes and blushed.

Suddenly, Hinata felt Naruto's hands on her chin, gently prodding her to look up. She slowly looked upward. She could feel all the blood rushing to her head. Naruto had a slight smile on his face.

"Hinata-chan…Do you remember…that you promised me…" Naruto then bent his head down to whisper in her ear. "…a birthday kiss?"

Hinata's face flushed. Finding herself not able to tear herself away from those blue eyes of his, she hesitantly nodded. Again, Naruto smiled at her teasingly.

"Now's the time, Hinata-chan…Neji's not even paying attention," he grinned.

"I-I…"

Sure, Hinata wanted to do what Naruto suggested. But her mind screamed, _'No, no, no!' _After a while, the other half of her mind went, _'Why not?'_

_'…B-Because it's…embarrassing…'_

_'Embarrassing? Look at everyone in this night club. Aren't they all more wild and crazy than you are?' _the other half of her mind debated.

_'I-I'm a girl! I-I can't just…'_

_'So? What can go wrong?' _

_'E-Everything…Cousin Neji…'_

_'He's drunk. Come on, Hinata. Didn't you always dream of being brave, being daring, just this once?'_

The shy part of Hinata's mind finally lost. She looked up into Naruto's face again. Now, her eyes were determined to be brave for once. He had his eyebrows raised, pretending like he was impatient.

"Hmm…so, Hinata-chan?" he huffed comically.

Unpredictably, the normally withdrawn Hyuuga girl threw herself onto him, seizing his lips in a kiss. Naruto's eyes widened and he unexpectantly went red in the face. Unfortunately, the kiss was only about three seconds long before Hinata pulled away. Apparently, her timid self had won over this time.

_'I-I c-can't believe…what I just did…'_

However, Naruto pulled her in for another kiss and dance, a very longer one this time. And all this while, Neji never knew, for he was beyond the limits of being drunk.

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Lee silently observed Shino making his way towards Ten Ten from afar. His eyes narrowed.

_'I, the Green Beast of the Konoha Hot Springs, will stop the bug freak's evil plans!'_

Lee quietly made his way within the hearing distance of Ten Ten and Shino.

"You look pretty today, Ten Ten," Shino attempted to flirt, although his face was still unemotional under his sunglasses.

"Thank you, Shino…" Ten Ten responded uncertainly, tugging at her black dress.

"Would you like a drink?" Shino asked, adjusting his glasses almost comically.

"Well…sure," Ten Ten smiled sheepishly.

Just at that moment, Lee purposely butted in with a drink in his hand.

"Here, Ten Ten-chan! I thought you would be thirsty!" Lee winked at her and looked at Shino from the corner of his eye.

Shino's eyes were flashing with annoyance behind his sunglasses.

_'Hah! Step one of destroying bug freak's evil plans is completed!' _Lee thought triumphantly.

However, quiet though he may seem at times, Shino was not one to just give up easily.

"Then, Ten Ten, would you like to dance?" Shino asked, offering her his hand.

Lee quickly pushed the hand away.

"Oh, nonononono, Shino. She can't."

"Why not?" Shino's eyebrows raised while Ten Ten looked at Lee, confused.

"She's already _reserved. _If you want to dance with her, you'll have to join the back of the line," Lee answered as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Then, I accept. Where's the line?"

"W-Wait! Stop! Lee, what are you saying!" Ten Ten had no idea what was going on.

Lee didn't know that Shino would answer this way. He dug in his head for a solution.

_'Be calm, be calm! You're the Green Beast of the Konoha Hot Springs, after all! Hmmm…' _Lee thought, quickly scanning his eyes around the room. He spotted a certain Hyuuga male swinging his cocktail cup at the unfortunate bartender's head.

"Oh, don't be shy, Ten Ten," Lee pretended to pat the puzzled Ten Ten's back and turned to Shino. "I'm sorry, Shino, but Ten Ten is reserved for the _whole night._ She's got to hurry now because her _reserver _is _very _impatient."

With that, Lee grabbed the baffled Ten Ten's hand and quickly dragged her off towards the cocktail stand (where, of course, the Hyuuga was now taking the bartender's job and filling drinks for himself).

_'Yes! I, the green beast, am such a genius!'_

"Wait, Lee! What's going on? What do you mean I'm _reserved _for a dance?" Ten Ten pulled on Lee's hand, forcing him to stop.

"Ten Ten-chan! I, the green beast, will save you from Shino's evil plans!"

"Evil plans? W-What do you mean? I don't have any idea what's going on."

"Ten Ten-chan, don't you notice that he's trying to _hit _on you! I cannot allow that to happen! You are my precious teammate! I'd rather have you with Neji!"

Ten Ten's cheeks suddenly reddened at the mention of the Hyuuga's name. They were standing pretty close to the cocktail bar.

"W-What are you saying, Lee! Be quiet! What if Neji hears us! I don't want him to think anything…weird…" Ten Ten said hotly.

Lee gave her reassuring smile and winked. "Never mind, Ten Ten, I assure you that Shino won't get to you! Just come with me."

The green beast dragged Ten Ten to sit at the cocktail bar. Neji suddenly noticed them.

"Eh, you two….Sit there and don't move. I'll…" Neji turned and drunkenly grabbed the cocktail shaker. "…get you some drinks."

Ten Ten stared, dumbfounded. She had _never, never _in her lifetime, seen the Hyuuga genius drunk. It was surely a strange sight to see. To Ten Ten, it was as if Neji had a different personality when he was drunk. Normally, the Hyuuga would be quiet and polite….but tonight….he was more outspoken and…rude? After a few moments, Neji had the drinks ready. He handed the red one to Ten Ten and the green one to Lee. He drank another glass himself. By that time, Shino had wandered over again.

"Hey, Hyuuga. Get me a drink please," Shino said, sitting beside Ten Ten at the cocktail stand.

_'Oh, no! I thought the bug freak would give up! I HAVE to get him away permanently this time!' _Lee thought desperately.

However, it wasn't really necessary for Lee to think of a plan to shoo Shino away, for Neji had already taken action.

"Whodaya think ya talking to, hah?" Neji slurred, glaring at Shino. "I'm not gonna get drinks for some bastard like you."

Lee, Ten Ten, and Shino, were all shocked. Most especially, Ten Ten. The Hyuuga _wasn't _one to swear.

_'I guess…Neji's really, really drunk,' _she thought, standing up. _'I've got to do something!'_

She didn't want there to be a fight right now. The murderous auras between the two guys were rising steadily.

" I-I…Shino, you asked me for a dance, right?" Ten Ten offered her hand out to the bug guy. "…It seems like I'm not reserved after all."

_'I hope getting Shino away from Neji will help the situation,' _Ten Ten thought, looking hopefully back and forth between Neji's and Shino's faces.

"W-What are you saying! Ten Ten!" the last thing Lee wanted was for Ten Ten to go dance with Shino.

Fortunately, Ten Ten's plan worked. The dangerous sensation from Shino disappeared into thin air (while Neji's murderous aura still remained).

"Yes, of course," Shino answered, taking Ten Ten's hand and smoothly leading her away from the cocktail stand to the dance floor.

All of a sudden, Shino fell to the floor.

"A-Ahhh!" Ten Ten cried, only to have her mouth shut by the person behind her.

"Shut up," apparently, it was Neji. "…I used the Jyuuken on him…bastard's going to be unconscious until tomorrow."

Ten Ten's eyes widened. Another thing that Neji _did not_ usually do was hurt others unreasonably. Then, Neji took her hand out from her mouth.

"Lee told me….that you're reserved," Neji roughly grabbed her to turn around to him. "…for me."

"What! No! That's a misunderstanding, Neji!" Ten Ten tried to restrain from the blush that was creeping up her cheeks.

She looked at the direction where Lee was sitting. The green beast winked back at her. He mouthed, "Have fun with Neji!" to her across the room. Ten Ten tried to mouth that no, she was _not _having fun. Lee just waved it off with a smile and proceeded to collect Shino's unconscious body and put it somewhere else so his superb plan would be complete.

Neji noticed Ten Ten looking at Lee's direction and forcefully grabbed her face to look back in his direction.

_'Oh, no…Neji sure is scary when he's drunk,' _Ten Ten gulped.

"Lee _says…_you're reserved for me…" Neji's pupil less eyes glared down at her. "…so look at me, not at him."

To Ten Ten, the Hyuuga smelled strongly of alcohol. She wondered how many glasses he had drunk already.

"Urm…yes…but, I…have got to get going now," Ten Ten tried to pry Neji's fingers from around her waist.

"No," he gave her a fierce look. "We're going to dance."

_'Oooh, I am SO going to kill Lee when I get out of this!' _Ten Ten thought as the Hyuuga led her into a rough dance.

The dance was super close, and unreasonably rough. The whole time, the two were mashed up against each other because the dance floor was so filled. When the wild song _finally _ended, Ten Ten was so relieved.

"Uh…Well, Neji, I guess the dance is over, so I guess I'll be going now," she smiled shyly at him and proceeded to walk off.

However, that was not in Neji's plan. His grip on Ten Ten's wrist did not loosen one bit.

"No, you can't go."

"W-What?"

As if for an explanation, Neji pulled her hand and forced her against a wall in a dark corner of the room. It kind of hurt for Ten Ten to be suddenly smashed up against a wall like that. She winced a little.

"I feel like kissing you," he glared ruthlessly down at her. "…And since Lee says you're reserved for me, I'm going to do it."

"N-No, Neji! You're misunder—"

Too late. The drunk Hyuuga was into his current activity a long way before Ten Ten had finished her sentence. The kiss was just like the dance—forceful, intimidating, and hot…with a lot of tongue. Also, it was irrationally long, almost so that Ten Ten couldn't breathe. When Neji finally ended the kiss with the red-faced Ten Ten, his eyes were still pitiless.

"I want more."

And with that, the two launched into another hot session, only this time, Ten Ten had a part in it.

**Joyce: **Well, there, that settles the question for many of you who are going..."Eww, Shino and Ten Ten? NO WAY!" Hehehehe...well, I never meant it to be ShinoXTen Ten from the beginning...remember, that I had written "usual pairings!" on the summary? Yea. NejiXTen Ten is a "usual pairing", not ShinoXTen Ten! Neways, I just put Shino in there for fun, because, 1, I like him and 2, he's funny (for me, at least)! And for Shino fans, don't feel too sorry for him because he's still that cool bug guy we all love:D Yea, and thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter! Like, it left me smiling and chucking a pillow at my sister's head! Yay! Please, I would be grateful for more! ;)


	12. Hot Guys, Wild Girls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XII: Hot Guys, Wild Girls_**

Gaara was feeling great. For a person who had been used as a killing weapon and nothing else for all his life…where he was right now was practically paradise. Where he was right now, he felt strangely happy and at peace. He didn't feel the need to kill. And, on top of everything else, he had a newfound discovery. Gaara found out that he was one hot guy to the flock of girls around him.

"Gaara-kun…you're so cute!" the random girl next to him squealed, pulling him into a tight hug.

The red head looked at the girl and muttered 'thanks', although no visible emotion showed on his face. Today, Gaara was wearing his normal clothes despite it being a party occasion. The only thing missing was his sand gourd, which Temari had told him to leave in his room because well, she had told him it was considered 'impolite' to bring weapons to a social occasion such as this.

A blonde girl walked over to his corner of the room and held up a pink cocktail.

"Here, Gaara-kun! I got this for you! I thought you might be thirsty."

Gaara took the cup without saying a thank you and lightly sipped it. The blonde who had brought him the cup practically drooled. Not the mention all the other girls were giving the blonde girl death glares.

"Gaara-kun, will you tell us more about yourself?" a short haired girl scooted up closer to him, smiling.

"Yea, I'd like to hear more about you, please?" the blonde girl who had brought him the drink begged.

A chorus of agreement sounded with all the rest of the girls. Although his face was nonchalant, Gaara was giving in.

"That's okay, if you want to hear it," he said in a dark voice.

"Of course!" the girl next to him put her head on his shoulder. "I'd love to hear everything about you."

Gaara turned his head to the girl. "…Even if some things about me are bad?"

The girl looked up at him.

"That's okay! I have things about me that are bad too!"

"Yea, Gaara-kun! We'll accept everything you have to say!"

Gaara grinned slightly. No, not the 'insane killer' grin. A slight smile, a genuine one.

"Then…well, I'm a sand shinobi, actually. I have two siblings, Temari and Kankurou…"

All the girls listened and hung onto every single word.

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Kankurou sneezed.

"Why do I have the bad feeling that someone's talking behind my back?" the puppeteer remarked, annoyed.

Kankurou was sitting at a table in the night bar with Chouji and Ino. After he had danced with Ino, he went to sit at the table while Ino danced with Chouji. Now, they were all finished and were relaxing at the table. Dancing with her was nothing special, it was just a 'friends friends' kind of thing, just like Ino dancing with Chouji. Kankurou discovered that she was a nice person, good to talk to, just like Chouji.

Kankurou took another drink out of his alcoholic glass.

"Are you sure you're not drunk, Kankurou?" Ino asked, raising an eyebrow.

For all she knew, he had drunk about six to seven glasses already. To her, he also looked drunk.

"No. I can control my alcohol," Kankurou replied, wiping his mouth.

"Okay, man, whatever you say. But tell us if you're about to puke, so I can get out of the way," Chouji said.

"Yea, I won't puke."

After that, the trio just sat at the table, saying nothing. It was too hard to say stuff anyway. The music was blaring. Chouji looked around the room and spotted Gaara surround by a bunch of random girls.

"Hey, Kankurou. Your bro there's lookin very popular with the girls."

Kankurou and Ino turned over to look.

"But he looks bored," Ino said, regarding Gaara's unemotional face.

"Naw…he's always like that. Never one to visibly show his emotions," Kankurou explained. "…But all those girls around him…I don't know what that's about. To be honest, I'm kinda jealous."

The puppeteer took another drink out of his glass. Chouji chuckled.

"Same here."

Ino looked back and forth between the two and looked back at Gaara.

"Well, actually, Kankurou, your brother doesn't look all _that bad._"

Chouji gave her an annoyed look.

"Yea, Ino, just when we bachelors were starting to feel a little bit better about ourselves."

"Well, I was just telling the truth," Ino shrugged. "Really, if he wasn't so scary sometimes, I would definitely hit on him."

"Yea, I've heard that from a bunch of other girls from our sand village," Kankurou rolled his eyes. "Here I am, being as sensible and social as possible to girls and nobody's after me…but my bro…he doesn't have a single social custom etched into his red head and he's being _chased _by girls…ahhh…sometimes, I think about how life is so unfair."

Ino laughed. "Awww…feel sorry for you. But at least, Gaara needs some love, doesn't he?" She pointed to her own forehead, indicating of Gaara's Chinese 'love' character on his forehead.

"Well, I suppose he does," Chouji shrugged. "Maybe I might as well get a tattoo on my forehead."

Kankurou snorted. "Yea, maybe that'll help," he remarked sarcastically.

"Come on, cheer up, guys! It's not like the end of the world! Even I don't have a bunch of guys around me," Ino said.

Chouji raised his eyebrows skeptically.

"Then what do you call me and Kankurou? Girls?"

"Ino, I'm offended."

"Ehehehehehe," Ino laughed sheepishly. "…eh…let's change the topic! Let's spot other people."

After a while, Chouji spotted Temari in the middle of the dancefloor, challenging other people to dance. The spotlight was on her.

"…wow, Kankurou…all of your siblings are magnetic to attention," Chouji remarked, regarding Temari.

Kankurou sweatdropped and pour the whole glass down his throat.

"Hey, YOU think you can win me, huh? Don't you fucking KNOW who I am?" Temari shouted to a poor person who was dancing near her. "Wanna see who's better?"

"N-No ma'am," the guy who was shouted at whimpered pitifully.

Ino, Chouji and Kankurou watched as Temari continued to dance like there wasn't a tomorrow and hurl insults at people occasionally.

"Kankurou, is your sister drunk?" Ino asked, staring wide eyed at the sand shinobi on the dance floor.

Kankurou shook his head. "I once had a drinking contest with her. She won."

"Really," Chouji took another look at Temari's direction.

After hanging out for a while observing Kankurou's weird siblings, Ino and Chouji decided to leave.

"I've got to get my beauty sleep," Ino said, yawning.

"Me too," Chouji agreed.

"I'll follow you up when I'm finished drinking," Kankurou poured himself another glass.

"Ok, man."

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Ino had departed with Chouji to go to her room. She walked down the hallway slowly, her red dress dragging behind her. Her head was feeling a bit dizzy from all that music, but it was alright. Then, she saw two figures approaching her. Ino's eyes got wide.

_'Is it just me or is that Sasuke and Sakura?' _Ino froze.

The pair seemed to be heading her way. Once they got close, Ino glared at Sasuke.

"You!" the blonde fiercely pointed her fingers into Sasuke's face.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Ino, it's a misunderstanding!" Sakura tried to explain.

"What is?" Ino turned to Sakura, a confused look on her face.

"I-I…Sasuke and I have made up….I am…no longer mad at him," Sakura informed the blonde, looking down at the floor in embarrassment when memories of the evening surfaced in her head.

Ino paused for a while for the information to sink in. She looked between Sakura and Sasuke, between a blushing face and an unemotional face. A wide smile appeared.

"Well! That's great, Sakura!" Ino squealed excitedly, hugging a happy Sakura.

"Hmf. I don't know what all the excitement is about," Sasuke remarked of the hugging girls, looking annoyed.

Ino ended her friendship hug with Sakura and pointed her finger into Sasuke's direction one more time.

"I'll forgive you last time for hurting my friend. If there is a next time…" Ino's eyes flashed dangerously. "…say goodbye to repopulating the Uchiha clan."

"Um…Ino…you don't have to go that far," Sakura smiled sheepishly. "But, I'm really grateful for your help. I just wanted to thank you."

"That's what friends are for!" Ino smiled at Sakura but turned to give Sasuke a mean look one more time. "…remember what I said."

"Who said I wanted to repopulate my clan?" Sasuke remarked, pissed off.

Ino giggled wickedly, sending goosebumps through the Uchiha's body.

"…You'll see…" Ino smiled evilly. "Just remember what I said! So you BETTER take good care of my friend."

Sasuke just smirked.

"I'm going to bed," he turned around as Sakura muttered a quiet 'good night'.

Sakura watched at Sasuke's retreating back and then turned around to go into her room. She placed her hand on the doorknob and tried to turn it, but it didn't budge.

"Ino! Ino, can you please unlock the door?" Sakura called.

"Nope!" Ino said in a cheerful voice.

"What! Why?" Sakura was really confused.

Suddenly, the door opened and Ino shoved out Sakura's stuff. Ino quickly closed and locked the door again before Sakura could react.

"Well, girl, you got back with Sasuke so you should go back to his roooomie!" Ino cried across the door in a teasing voice. "That way, you'll have time to MAKE OUT!"

Images of Sasuke kissing her flooded back, yet again, into the pink-haired shinobi's head. Sakura blushed as pink as her hair.

"I-Ino! You're evil!"

"Ooh, la la! I've got to get my beauuuty sleep, my girl! So just go on to your room and have fun, okay? Good niiiiiiight!" Ino voice called before Sakura saw the lights under the door go black.

"Ino! Wait!"

However, it was too late. There was no respond. Apparently, Ino was very tired and had fallen into sleep immediately. Sakura rubbed her temples.

_'Okay, okay…! What am I supposed to do! Ino's locked me out…let's see if the other girls would let me in…hm…let's see…Hinata…no, no I'd hate to interrupt Naruto and his crazy flirting…Temari…well, I'd hate to go in between her fighting wars with Shikamaru too…hmm…who else is left? Oh, yea! Ten Ten!' _

With that, Sakura picked up her stuff and made her way to room 003, where Ten Ten was staying. She was about to knock when she heard noises beyond the door. Out of pure curiosity, Sakura placed her ear on the door. Sakura's eyes widened. What she heard sounded unmistakably like….kissing noises! The pink haired shinobi quickly stumbled away from the door.

_'Now, that. That, I would hate even more to interrupt.'_

Sakura really wondered who Temari was making out with. Even though Gaara was Ten Ten's roommate…she doubted it was Gaara because she had just seen Gaara surrounded by a bunch of girls down at the night bar.

_'So, it could only be Ten Ten…and some guy…or it could be Gaara with one of his fangirls…' _Sakura thought, and then sighed. _'Well, now, there's only one way…to go back to Sasuke's room…'_

If it was the Sakura that she had been before she had come to the Konoha Hot Springs, she would never have hesitated. That Sakura would have _ran _to go to Sasuke's room. That Sakura would have even _paid _to sleep in the same room as Sasuke. But now…the Sakura that she was now…Sakura couldn't really explain it, but after Sasuke had kissed her…she felt more reluctant to face him. It might be because she was embarrassed…and ever since he had apologized to her…she felt like she should be more…careful and considerate around the Uchiha.

Sakura slowly walked to Sasuke's room and stood there. She just stood there, staring at the number '007' on the door. Sakura didn't knock. Suddenly, the door opened, revealing Sasuke in a bathrobe, his hair still wet.

"Why are you here?" there was an unreadable expression on his face.

"S-Sasuke! How did you know I was-"

"I sensed it."

"Okay then…I was wondering if…I mean…Ino's locked me out…'cause she thought that you and me had already made up…I mean…and the other girls are busy….I was wondering…" Sakura couldn't find it in herself to ask him if she could stay in his room.

"Sakura, you're wasting my time. Get in here."

He turned around and left the door open for her to come in. Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief.

_'Good, he understood what I was trying to say…' _She grabbed her stuff and walked in the door.

All her stuff that had been in this room before she moved to stay with Ino was right where she left it. Her suitcase…her combs, everything.

"Sakura, get in the shower so I can change," Sasuke said.

Sakura turned to look at him and again, she felt jumpy inside.

"Okay," she smiled at him and went into the bathroom.

**Joyce: **Okay, guys, so there's that chapter. So many of you wanted for Sakura back in Sasuke's room, so here it is:D...Oh, and I just wanna mention something from the last chapters...remember a random guy called 'Big G' that was trying to hurt Hinata but Naruto saved her? (It's okay if you don't remember)..Well, I just wanted to mention that there's a guy at my school who calls himself 'Big G'...LOL! He's Dutch and really, really melodramatic...funny but sometimes annoying...lol...just wanted to tell you the source of my inspiration...well, that's all...Reviews, please! Thanks:D


	13. Lights

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XIII: Lights_**

Shikamaru lay on his bed and stared up at the plain, white ceiling. He sighed. The Nara would have much preferred to be staring at the night sky, just like at home. All the lights in the room were off, because Shikamaru was trying to sleep. He had gone down to the party at the night bar but later came back up because the wildness down there was just too…troublesome for him. Suddenly, the door creaked open.

_'So she's back…how troublesome.'_

Sure enough, Temari strolled into the room and snapped on the lights, without mercy for her roommate.

"Hey, woman, close off the lights. I'm trying to sleep."

Temari turned to look at him with an annoyed expression on her face.

"So the genius didn't even go down to party? What a geek."

"Woman, I am not in the mood to argue with you. Just turn off the lights."

Temari went to sit in front of the mirror in the room and proceeded to untie her hair.

"No. Can't."

_'How troublesome.'_

Feeling too lazy to do any more arguing, the Nara just rolled around to the other side and tried to pull the blanket so that it covered his eyes from the light. It worked, yes, but pulling over the blanket made it more difficult to breathe. It really was annoying and Shikamaru found it impossible to sleep. So, the Nara decided to wait for two more minutes.

_'If that troublesome woman doesn't close the lights off within two minutes, I'm going to do something.'_

Two long minutes passed by. The lights were not closed. Shikamaru impatiently threw the blankets off. Temari was still in front of the mirror, now trying to remove her make up with a tissue. So, Shikamaru quickly walked to the light switch and snapped the lights off.

"Hey!" Temari cried, looking around in the darkness in anger.

"I'm going to sleep!" Shikamaru protested in an equally resentful voice.

"I'm _trying _to remove my make up so I can sleep so that you can sleep!" Temari said in annoyance, walking over to where Shikamaru was and switching on the lights again.

The lights came on and Shikamaru gave an annoyed glare at Temari's mascara-tainted face. Her hands were still stubbornly on the light switch. He put his hand over hers and forced the lights off. She forced the lights on. He forced the lights off. This went on for many rounds. Both were glaring at each other between the lightness and the darkness.

"….Why can't you just remove your stupid make up tomorrow, woman!"

"…Because I don't want to!"

"..."

"Can't find a clever comeback, _genius_?"

"…No."

"Whatever, _genius_."

"You're so unreasonable."

"...Does it matter?"

Finally, Shikamaru gave in to having the lights switched on.

"Hah!" Temari grinned triumphantly at him.

The Nara responded with another glare and grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit in front of the mirror.

"What are you doing!" Temari protested in a rage.

Shikamaru had grabbed the tissue that Temari had used on her face earlier and was now rubbing it hard on her face.

"What! Stop! Stop! You're rubbing it too hard! My face hurts!" Temari fumed, trying to brush away his hands.

"Look, woman, I gave in to you having the lights on. So, you should hurry up with this make up cleaning," he grabbed her face in his hands and continued to clean off the make up.

Temari huffed.

"Fine. Can you please rub more gently? It really hurts."

Although the every inch of the Nara's face still displayed the annoyed expression, his rubbing became a lot smoother. A few minutes passed by, with Shikamaru concentrated on getting the make up off without hurting Temari's face and Temari staring up into Shikamaru's concentrated face.

"…Temari, your eye mascara is hard to get off."

Temari was still staring into Shikamaru's face. She didn't even hear his voice.

"…Temari?"

"Oh! Yea. What?"

"I can't clean off your eye mascara. It's stuck, woman."

"Oh…Hmm…"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow.

_'The woman doesn't even know how to clean off her own make up, huh.'_

So, he grabbed her hand and pulled her up again. Now, he led her into the bathroom. He turned on the tap water and got a little bit of the water in his hand. Then, he gently put a small amount of the water onto Temari's face and rubbed.

"…I think this is working," Shikamaru observed his work.

Temari just stared into his face again. To her, it was kind of fun. She unpredictably reddened a little when she realized how close his face was to her. She flinched and back away a little.

"Hey, woman, don't back away. Come closer, I'm trying to clean here," Shikamaru seized her face again and proceeded to clean.

Temari's face continued coloring even though she still had the annoyed expression pasted on her face.

"There, it's all finished, woman," Shikamaru smiled at her (or rather, at her cleaned face).

Temari kind of gave a small smile back.

"Thanks, then," she muttered.

"Good. Okay, now you can go to sleep, right?" he smiled at her hopefully.

"….Urm…"Temari paused. "…Actually….I have to shower first."

"What!"

"...But I'll dress in the bathroom! You can close the lights! I won't disturb you…" Temari quickly added.

The Nara breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Whatever you say, woman…good night, then," Shikamaru turned around to walk out of the bathroom door.

"Good night, Shikamaru," Temari said to his retreating back.

He stopped.

"Did you just call me…_Shikamaru_?"

"Yea, why!" Temari said a little bit too loudly.

She herself didn't realize that she had called him that. He turned around to look at her one more time.

"…Where'd the _genius _go?"

"Well…I just felt like calling you that!" Temari protested and huffed.

He gave a cool smile at her huffy face.

"Okay, then. Goodnight, _Temari,_" the Nara said, closing the door.

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"Thanks for coming to visit. How may I help you?" Aunt Midori greeted cheerfully to the two new guests that had just walked in through the main doors of the Konoha Hot Springs.

"We're here to stay for three days," the first guest with purple hair replied.

"Please wait…" Aunt Midori tried to find her checklist. "…ahh, you're in luck. One room is currently available."

"Good," the second guest stated.

"Names please?"

"I'm Jiro Takashi," the purple hair male answered.

"Takashi, Emiko," the female stated.

Aunt Midori took a moment to do all the check-in business.

"Thank you, please follow this way," with that, Aunt Midori took the two guests to their respective rooms.

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"Hey sister, what do you think we should do now?" Jiro flopped himself on the bed and looked up at his big sister.

"You baka! How dare you ask me that? Don't you remember what Orochimaru-sama had ordered us to do?" Emiko cried, annoyed at her brother's question.

"But Emiko! Do you really want to start the job _now_? 'Cause like…after all, we are at _the _Konoha Hot Springs, you know," Jiro scratched behind his purple hair. "…what do you say we…take a try at the springs?"

Emiko was about to reprimand her brother again but stopped. The idea of relaxing in the hot springs was _very _appealing to her.

"Well…how about this…if our target makes his or her way to the springs…we follow them and at the same time we can catch them!"

"Hm…well that's okay, we can combine our job with having fun!" Jiro smiled. "But who's our first target?"

"How about…let's round up all the girls first? I think it'd be easier," Emiko flipped back her long blue hair.

Jiro immediately sat up. "Girls, huh? Gotcha, sis. That'll be my job. Emiko, you can round up the guys, alright?"

Emiko bobbed her blue head up and down.

"Right, Jiro."

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Ten Ten sat in the hot springs, sighing and staring up at the blue sky.

_'I can't believe what happened last night…Neji was really drunk…'_

She colored at the thought, closed her eyes, and sank deeper into the steaming water.

"Hey, Ten Ten."

Ten Ten immediately sat up to find Neji in the pool too. His face was normal now, not drunk like it was last night.

"Hi…" Ten Ten politely greeted back and lowered her head to hide the blush.

Unexpectantly, Neji came and sat next to her in the pool. Ten Ten stiffened.

"I don't remember everything that happened last night," Neji went straight to the subject that he had come here for. "I want you to tell me, because I'm not sure."

_'He…doesn't remember?' _her heart sank. She was kind of hoping that he would.

"I…You…me…" Ten Ten attempted to explain. "…Nevermind, nothing happened.

She tried to give him a reassuring smile but he did not smile back.

"Ten Ten, I don't buy that. Tell me," he paused, then added softer. "Did I…do anything inappropriate to you?"

Ten Ten reddened.

"I did, didn't I?" Neji's voice was only a whisper now.

She nodded, her head still down. If her head was up, she would have seen that Neji's face was reddening too.

"I'm…sorry, Ten Ten…are you hurt?" for the first time ever, Ten Ten heard Neji's voice that could be associated to the word 'caring'.

_'No, I'm not hurt! I…kinda liked what you and I shared last night…but you, you forgot everthing!' _Ten Ten thought, shaking her head vigourously.

It was as if the Hyuuga could read her thoughts.

"I'm sorry…I was drunk…but I have no excuses for my actions…" Neji started to get up. "…I'll go; you'll want to be alone."

"Wait…Neji…"

The Hyuuga turned around, looking at her.

"Did you…really forget everything?" Ten Ten's eyes were sad even though her face tried to give the impression that she didn't care.

Neji sat back down.

"…No…" Ten Ten's heard skipped a beat. "…But some things are blurry…I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry…" Ten Ten said quietly. "…but I'm just sad that…you…"

Ten Ten couldn't block the tear that was threatening to spill out of her eyes. The tear rolled down her cheek. Neji looked bewildered, uncertain of what he should do in a situation such as this.

"T-Ten Ten!" the Hyuuga stammered (which he rarely did).

His voice calling her name only made her cry harder. The salty tears combined with the steamy water of the hot springs. Awkwardly, Neji scooted closer to her and put a stiff arm around her. He just did what his first instinct told him to do. His other hand patted her head gently. An eternity passed before Ten Ten finally spoke again.

"…do I…mean anything to you, Neji?"

Neji had no idea how to answer. He just stiffened but continued patting her back.

"…please, answer me, Neji…" Ten Ten looked up into his face, her eyes sparkling of tears. "…What do I mean to you?...I promise, I won't be mad…"

Ten Ten lowered her head again.

"…am I…just…a one night fling?" her voice was hoarse now.

"Well…" Neji pulled her into a hug. "…You know you mean more to me than that."

Ten Ten was really surprised of his answer.

_'What? Wasn't it only because of the alcohol?'_

She quickly looked up into his face; however, he had already turned the other way. If she had seen his face, she would have seen a burning one. She felt strangely…happy.

_'What am I being happy about? It's not like he confessed to me or anything,' _she too, blushed.

Neji's arms were still around her although both of them were looking away from each other. Suddenly, Neji spoke up.

"Ten Ten?"

"Y-yes?"

"You enjoyed it, right?"

Ten Ten reddened even further. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know what I'm talking about…all those kisses…"

"Well…I…I…" Ten Ten's face was burning; she would rather not answer that question.

"I thought so," the Neji now turned around to smile slightly at her.

Blushing, she turned to him with a huffy face.

"You're so perverted when you're drunk, did you know that!"

Neji smirked.

"I know."

**Joyce: **Yess, guys, I love long reviews! I got a lot of those this time and I'm really happy! Yay:D Hmmm..what else...nothing else! Well, hope you enjoy this as always and review:D Love, Joyce


	14. Captured!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XIV: Captured! _**

Emiko quietly peeked through the slightly open door of the teahouse. She had taken off her sound nin headband and was now dressed just like any normal guest in the hot springs—a yukata, and her blue hair put up. Her brown eyes saw a short haired girl pouring some tea for a blonde guy.

The blonde guy sipped the tea.

"Mmm…Hinata, you're good at both making ramen _and _making tea!" the blonde smiled at the girl Emiko assumed was called Hinata.

Hinata turned a little bit away, blushing. This gave Emiko the chance to see the eyes of the girl called Hinata. It was white.

**F L A S H B A C K **

_"Emiko, Jiro, be especially careful of the Hyuugas. You can distinguish them by their white eyes. They can see almost everywhere; almost no blind spot," Orochimaru hissed at the siblings._

_"Hai," the two siblings replied in unison._

**E N D F L A S H B A C K**

"T-Thank you, Naruto-kun," Hinata replied shyly.

_'Naruto…oh, yea…So that blonde guy is the boy with the Kyuubi, huh?' _Emiko furrowed her brows, racking her head for a plan. _'…A Hyuuga and a boy with the Kyuubi, should I take on both of them or just one of them?'_

In the end, Emiko decided to observe the behavior of the two people before deciding which person she should capture first. However, there was a long moment of silence between the Naruto and Hinata before either of them spoke.

"Hey, Hinata-chan…"

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you like me?" Naruto's suddenly asked. His eyes were serious this time, not joking like it was in the previous times.

"W-Why have you…" she trailed off, coloring.

She didn't answer the question. Emiko observed the two people and snickered.

_'Young first love…what nonsense. I suppose I should get the Kyuubi boy first, he seems gullible…I won't be fooled by that white-eyed girl…even though she looks weak, she's a Hyuuga, nevertheless…' _Emiko thought and quietly opened the door.

It was lucky for her that neither Naruto nor Hinata noticed her. They were too transfixed in each other's gaze.

"N-Naruto…I…Neji will be calling for me…" Hinata quickly got up, her face still red.

"Hinata-chan…you won't answer the question?" Naruto said, a bit disappointed. "Do you need me to tell you first?"

Hinata didn't turn around. She was blushing too hard.

"I…I…N-Naruto-kun…"

The Hyuuga girl had no idea how to respond. This was a first for her; all things with Naruto were a first for her.

"Well…just in case you know…I like you Hinata-chan…I just needed to get that out…whew! What a relief!"

Hinata immediately whirled around at his previous statement, her pale eyes shocked and her cheeks red. She turned to see him grinning at her, although his cheeks were a bit flushed. Then, he turned around to look the other way, so that Hinata could not see him.

"…Well…that's just how I feel about you….but I'm just not sure if you feel the same way…" his voice sounded a bit strange now. "…But I'm in no hurry, Hinata-chan…you can tell me some other time…"

_'The Kyuubi boy sure is dumb. What's with the 'I'm not sure if you feel the same way'! Anyone can see that she likes him!' _Emiko thought, rolling her eyes in her hiding place in the room.

The blonde turned around to give Hinata a smile again, and then took a sip from his teacup. Hinata felt too embarrassed at being in the same room as Naruto any longer.

"Y-Yes, I'll…tell you some other time then…" the girl said softly then quickly walked out the door.

Now, only Naruto and a mysterious invader were in the room. The blonde plopped down on the floor, spreading his arms wide and closing his eyes.

"Wow…I…finally got that out….I wonder what her answer will be…"

_'Hah…the Kyuubi boy's talking to himself now, is he? Well, no matter…this is perfect! The Hyuuga girl is gone, so there is no longer that threat…I just need to capture the Kyuubi boy…' _Emiko thought, smirking again. _'…Time to act.'_

"Hey, boy," Emiko called.

Naruto immediately sat up at the sound. He looked around the room, confused.

_'There's no one in here except me…' _Naruto thought, puzzled.

"Who's there?" the blonde stood up now. "Show yourself."

"Up, here, Kyuubi boy."

Naruto looked up to see a blue haired girl in a black yukata plastered to the ceiling of the tea house. But that was only a fraction of a second, because before Naruto could do anything else, a long pin flew down and struck him in the forehead. Naruto immediately fell down, unconscious.

"Easy as pie," Emiko sneered and jumped down from the ceiling.

She easily gathered up the boy's body and disappeared out of the tea house.

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Hinata started to walk back to her room, to give herself time to think about what Naruto had just said.

_'Did N-Naruto-kun just confess to me?' _She still did not fully believe what had happened.

A part of her felt happy, very, very happy. But she didn't know why she was holding back.

_'Girl, why didn't you just answer him and tell him that you liked him too?' _a part of her brain said.

_'I-I don't know…I was too embarrassed.' _

_'Yea, and that time you kissed him, wasn't THAT more embarrassing?'_

_'S-Stop it…it's just…'_

_'Hinata-chan, my girl, what can go wrong if you said you liked him? And don't give me that lame 'but Neji will…' excuse.'_

_'Yea…I-I…guess you're right.'_

_'So you agreed with me for once. And, FYI, I'm ALWAYS right.'_

Hinata stopped her walking. _Why _hadn't she told Naruto that she liked him too, right there and then, exactly?

'_Thinking about it, t-that was kind of…stupid…'_

Hinata made up her mind now. She was determined to tell him. He liked her, she liked, him, and that was that.

_'I am not going to let my weak self take over!' _the Hyuuga heir thought, turning around and running back to the tea house.

She burst into the tea house, her eyes determined and ready to tell Naruto what she thought. She had been sure that he'd still be there, waiting for her, just like always. That wasn't to be. All she saw in the room was emptiness. No one was there. Her Hyuuga eyes observed something deep red in the middle of the room. It was insignificant, and someone besides a Hyuuga would have not paid attention to it.

When she walked closer to observe it, it turned out to be two small drops of blood. Somehow, she was sure that it was Naruto's blood. It was something like a woman's sixth sense of foreboding. Her white eyes quickly filled up with panicked tears.

_'I had the chance to tell him…and I didn't…' _a tear rolled down her cheek. _'Now…I might not get…another chance.'_

Hinata sat there and cried for a while.

_'Don't give up, girl, you're strong. You're STRONG,' _a voice in her head told her.

It was that voice that had always encouraged her to be strong. The voice that had given her the courage to kiss Naruto that night. _It was the strong part of her. _

_'I…won't give up for the sake of Naruto-kun…'_

_'That's right girl, you won't.'_

_'I'll find him and whoever hurt him!'_

_'Yes, girl, you go, girl.'_

Hinata stood up, her eyes fierce, not unlike the Neji Hyuuga at all. In fact, it was even fiercer, even more determined. With that, Hinata ran out the door of the tea house to find out who even _dared _to hurt Naruto.

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Ino liked to take morning walks at the Konoha Hot Springs, mainly because of the huge assortment of flowers that bloomed in their garden. The blonde liked flowers a lot. She bent down to catch a gentle whiff of a rose's pleasant scent.

"Ohayou, miss."

Ino looked around for the person who had just greeted her. A guy with purple hair braided down his back greeted her eyes. Ino stood up. She hadn't met this guy before.

"Ohayou-?"

"The name's Jiro, miss, and you are?"

Ino smiled. _'This guy is obviously trying to flirt with me.'_

"Yamanaka, Ino."

_'Ahh…I might as well flirt back. There's nothing to do anyways,' _Ino thought randomly, flashing the guy a sweet smile.

Jiro flashed a killer smile back, startling Ino a little.

_'Well, I see he's no newbie to the flirting game either, huh…'_

"Miss, would you mind if I walk with you?"

"That's no problem."

"Good."

With that, the two walked together for a while, no words exchange. Eventually, they came to another flower bed with white roses. Ino liked white roses.

"Let's stop here a while," she told Jiro, walking to the roses.

Jiro silently followed behind her back. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he whipped up a white rose. The purple-haired guy went and tapped Ino on her shoulder.

"Hmmm?" she asked turning to him with a pleasant air.

"This is for you, miss," Jiro flashed another smile and held up the single white rose to Ino.

_'Aww…how sweet. Yes, he knows the game. He knows the game very well.'_

"Why, thank you," she smiled back and sniffed the rose.

For a moment, she felt dizzy. Her eyes became blurry. After a moment of confusion, she realized the truth with a panic.

_'Oh, no. How could I have been so careless! It's poison…'_

Then, her mind blacked out.

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Sakura sat at the base of the waterfall on a rock, looking up at the huge amount of water flowing down. She sighed.

_'That water shape there looks like Sasuke…that rock there looks like Sasuke…that cloud there looks like Sasuke…' _the pink-haired shinobi quickly shook her head. _'…Gosh, I'm daydreaming too much…' _

Sure, Sasuke had told her that he liked her. He'd even hugged her. Heck, he'd even kiss her once! But after that night, he acted like nothing had happened. She sighed again.

_'Am I the only one affected by everything he did?'_

Her thoughts turned to that morning, when Sakura had woken up. It was so awkward for her.

**F L A S H B A C K**

_She sat up from the bed, having just awoken. She spotted him by the window side, brooding as usual._

_'Should I say good morning? Like usual? ...After what happened last night?' those were her thoughts._

_"O-O-Ohayou, Sasuke-kun," Sakura tried her best to sound normal._

_Unfortunately, she had stammered no less than two times. Sasuke turned his gaze on her. _

_"Don't force yourself, Sakura. It's annoying," he had said, then left the room._

**F L A S H B A C K**

_'Don't force yourself? Don't force yourself! What's THAT supposed to mean, huh?' _Sakura furrowed her brows and rubbed her temples, trying to think.

"Does he mean 'don't force yourself' as in, 'don't force yourself' to say good morning! Or does he mean… 'don't force yourself' to stay in this room! 'Don't force yourself' could have a thousand meanings!" the pink haired shinobi wondered aloud in a huffy voice. "HE NEVER MAKES ANYTHING CLEAR!"

She threw a rock at the waterfall as hard as she could.

"…I don't?"

Sakura whirled around her eyes aware, her hands in her kunai pocket, ready to throw the weapons whenever she needed to. She took her hands out when it realized it was only Sasuke. _Only Sasuke? _Sakura immediately reddened.

_'Oh, GREAT. I just made a fool of myself in front of him AGAIN.'_

"Y-You heard all that!" Sakura demanded a little too loudly.

He grunted.

Sakura assumed it was a 'yes'. But she didn't know what to say in respond.

"O-Oh! Well then….Ohayou, Sasuke-kun…"

He raised his eyebrows.

"You already said good morning to me this morning. It's almost evening," was his reply.

Sakura didn't give up. She tried to change the topic again.

"Okayy….well…the waterfall's nice, isn't it?" her voice sounded very strained.

To her surprise, Sasuke sighed. As far as she knew, the Uchiha rarely sighed.

"Sakura, your attitude is getting annoying."

There it goes again. _'How could he be so nice one day and soo…unbearable the other?' _Sakura thought.

"W-What! My attitude? What? I'm just being normal…"

"Just act normal around me, Sakura. No need to be all awkward just because of what I did last night."

_'Ohhh…so THAT'S what he meant. Wait. Why is he acting so…NORMAL about it!' _Sakura flushed and prepared to defend herself.

"Sasuke-kun! I'm not acting awkward! It's all your own thinking," she huffed at him with a red face.

He just smirked. "Sakura, must I assume that you talk behind my back all the time?"

Sakura's patience was running thin. Even if he _was _her crush and all…He made her _so _pissed sometimes. Up until now, she had forced herself not to show it when she was pissed. Mostly, she just took it out on Naruto.

_'If he's gonna like, me, he's gonna like me for who I am! Including ALL my bitching out!' _Sakura thought, cracking her knuckles.

She walked over to him, who was leaning on a tree. His cold eyes just bore down onto hers. His lips were curved up into its usual sneering position. She glared.

"I DON'T TALK BEHIND YOUR BACK ALL THE TIME!" She screamed, punching the tree behind him that he was leaning on.

The tree burst into debris. For a moment, Sasuke's eyes widened.

_'Whoa. She's…strong.'_

She still glared at him. He regained his composure.

_'…I wonder how strong she can get.' _

"Sakura, spar with me."

Her pissed glare turned into a look of confusion.

"WHAT!"

"Don't be deaf, Sakura. You heard. I want to see how much weaker you are than me."

Actually, the Uchiha wanted to see how strong she had gotten. But he just wanted to use the word 'weak' to enjoy her face expression. As for Sakura, the word 'weaker' surely did piss her off. Even if it was the Uchiha…gosh! She had just destroyed a big fat tree into shards and here he was, saying that she was weak!

"Sure, you're be sorry, Sasuke-kun!" she immediately readied herself into fighting position. "Like Ino said, you will NEVER repopulate your clan."

"Reeaaally?"

So, the day after Sakura's first kiss was spent...sparring with the guy she liked. Very...unromantic indeed.Then, nothing was seen anymore, for the two had starting sparring. There were just colorful blurs.

**Joyce:** I love BOTH long reviews and short reviews, for those who are concerned! ;) Yea, and what else was I gonna say…oh, yea, SORRY FOR THE LONG DELAY! _This time's excuse:_ The TV is next to my computer and my little sis always opens the Yu Yu Hakusho anime all day long! Thus, I had no concentration for writing my fic! Blame my sissie!…hehehehe :D…oh well, at least I didn't come up with some lame excuse like, "I got lost on the road of life", huh:D Well, Kakashi's excuses are always so cute:D..Okay, enuf of ranting. REVIEWWWSSSS:)


	15. Something Called Jealousy

Disclaimer: I do no own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XV: Something Called Jealousy_**

"…and, and then…Naruto was gone…" Hinata finished her sentence with a worried sighed.

Neji's face expression was still unchanging.

"…So…if the only evidence left there is two drops of blood, we must assume that some weapon was used on Naruto, right?" Ten Ten ventured while Hinata's eyes widened in slight horror.

"Y-Yes…I-I hope he's not…"

Everyone minus Naruto, Ino, and Chouji were sitting at the dining table, previously listening intently to Hinata's story of Naruto disappearing.

"Don't worry, cousin. I don't think he's dead," Neji sipped his tea.

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Instinct."

Inner Sakura sweatdropped. Suddenly, Gaara spoke up.

"Where is Ino and Chouji?"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Ino! Ino! What if she's captured!"

As Sasuke was about to open his mouth to deliver some pessimistic retort, the door burst open. It was Chouji.

"Hey, has anyone seen Ino?" he asked casually.

"We were just discussing where she went," Shikamaru replied. "…And then there's the big possibility that she's been kidnapped with Naruto."

"What! Naruto's been taken? And Ino too? How come I didn't know!" Chouji was bewildered.

"We just found out too," Shikamaru now had a serious expression on his face. "…And we have to find out who kidnapped them…"

"_Genius, _what's the plan?" Temari nudged him.

_'So we're back on name-calling now, huh?' _Shikamaru gave an annoyed sigh.

"Well, I'm guessing that we should be on the absolute lookout tonight, and take more action tomorrow," the Nara paused. "…And remember, tonight, _never _be alone by yourself. If you separate, it's easier for the enemy to get you."

Sasuke grunted. Shikamaru ignored the Uchiha and turned to Temari.

"…And I guess we're _together _again tonight, eh, woman?"

"…And what makes you think I'm staying with YOU, huh?" she retorted.

He shrugged casually. "I dunno."

Temari huffed and turned the other way.

After that, everyone ate in silence, aware of the danger that was surrounding them. Then, they all departed for their own ways.

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_'Gosshhh, he's the one the told everyone never to separate and he's the one doing the separating!' _Temari thought furiously.

She'd already been in her bedroom for twenty minutes now and the _stupid _Nara genius still hasn't shown up. As much as she hated to admit it, she was getting kind of worried. Then, she vigorously shook her head.

_'If he's not strong enough to even protect himself, he's not worth anything!' _

Temari crossed her legs impatiently and spread out her small mini fan and cooled herself with it. After a while, she decided to go down for a walk. There was no use staying up here anyway.

She made her way to the small lake to the west of the main building. From the distance, she could see two figures on the lighted bridge that was built across the lake. Temari squinted, for one of the figures looked suspiciously like Shikamaru. The sand shinobi quickened up her pace now.

When she got a bit closer, she realized that it was indeed Shikamaru.

_'Who's the other person he's with! Didn't that stupid genius say he'll stay with me!' _Temari tried to make as less sound as she could, so they wouldn't notice. _'Wait…I don't recognize the person he's with...from here, it looks like…a blue-haired girl! Who the heck is that!' _

A strange feeling washed over Temari.

_'How DARE he separate from me just to go FLIRT with some girl!' _ Temari felt her blood beginning to boil.

Her temper was evoked even further when she realized that…he was HANGING ON to the girl! Steams of smoke coming out of Temari's ears were almost visible.

"That lazy flirt!" she hissed, clearly pissed.

In her anger, Temari had indeed done a very foolish thing. She had forgotten to take note of her surroundings. She had failed to notice a certain blue-haired girl creep up behind her. All she felt was a prick in the back of her neck before she went unconcious.

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_'How troublesome,' _Shikamaru thought as he supported the blue-haired girl beside him. After dinner, he had gone to the souvenir shop in the K.H.S. hallway to buy some toothpaste, for he had run out. Besides, he didn't want to ask Temari for some. On the way back, he had found a girl sitting and crying at the side of the building.

When he had asked what was wrong, the blue-haired girl claimed that she had sprained her ankle and couldn't go back to her room. Lazy though he was, the Nara was a gentleman and could not find it in his heart to just leave her there. So, he had asked her where her room was and the girl had told him that it was on the other side of the lake.

"Emiko, can you go on a bit further?" Shikamaru shifted his hand so that it could support her weight better.

"Yes…I think I can…thank you very much…Shikamaru…"

The Nara immediately stiffened. _'What? I hadn't told her my name! How did Emiko know-?'_

Emiko soon realized her mistake. _'Shit.'_

Shikamaru was not stupid. His first suspicions were that this was surely the enemy that had captured Naruto and Ino. He immediately tightened his grip on the girl. Emiko turned to look at him with an evil grin on her lips.

"…So, you've realized that I'm that enemy?"

"Of course…where's Naruto and Ino!"

Emiko couldn't move because of the Nara's Shadow Jutsu. However, that didn't stop her from smirking at him.

"…Are you stupid? ...Like I'm gonna tell you…"

And, with a poof, she disappeared right from Shikamaru's hands. The Nara stood there a while, frustrated with himself that he couldn't even hold on to the enemy. Then, he sighed, annoyed.

"…Of course, that Emiko was a clone…the real one must be somewhere else," with that, he started to walk back the way he came.

When he came to the end of the bridge, he saw a familiar object lying in the darkness. When he picked it up, he realized that it was Temari's mini-fan. It didn't take long for the truth to be drawn on the genius. Apparently, the _real _Emiko had already taken Temari. And _he _was most likely at fault, for being tricked by the clone.

"Shit!"

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Ten Ten and Neji were sitting on a small, comfy sofa. It was all silent between them; no words were exchanged. The only light in the dark room was the small white light bulb that shined down on them. The reason for this was that Aunt Midori was sleeping on her bed.

The two were currently in the old lady's bedroom because Shikamaru had told them at dinner to come and make sure that no harm comes to the lady, especially since there was an enemy running around.

Ten Ten was getting slightly sleepy. They had been sitting here for an hour and a half now, with nothing happening. The only sound heard was the gentle snoring of Aunt Midori. Ten Ten really doubted that anyone would come to harm the old lady.

_'I want to go to sleep…' _she thought, her eyes drooping slightly.

"Go on, sleep," Neji suddenly spoke up, ask if reading her mind.

Ten Ten perked up, all the traces of her sleepiness gone. She looked at him, embarrassed.

"That's okay…I'm not sleepy…"

"Just go to sleep….I'm more than enough to keep the enemy away if they attack," Neji's eyes bore into her.

She sighed. He knew her _so well. _On past missions, Neji or Lee would always volunteer to do the night guarding for her. They knew she hated staying awake when she was sleepy. Of course, she would always feel guilty afterwards for sleeping in, but they never seemed to mind.

"Well…" she looked into his face, then paused.

Seeing his face this close to hers…it suddenly reminded her of that night. The night when Neji got drunk. She immediately blushed and scooted farther away from him on the sofa.

_'How can I sleep when…he's this close!' _

"….N-Never mind Neji…I don't feel sleepy anymore."

He raised his eyebrows. Well, the Hyuuga wasn't a genius for nothing. Besides from being able to see all around him in all directions, apparently, he could read minds too.

"…Thinking about that night?" he asked, a barely visible smirk appearing on his lips.

Cross out the 'he knew her _so well_'. He knew her _too _well.

"No…No way!" Ten Ten said a bit too loudly.

Neji put a finger on her lips, quieting her immediately.

"Shhh…." He whispered. "…There's other company among us, you know."

Ten Ten turned to Aunt Midori, who had shifted slightly at the sound. When she turned back, Neji's face was still close to her…closer than ever. Again, she blushed, even though it was barely visible in the dark room.

_'Should I tell him now? That I like him?' _she thought.

Ten Ten had liked the Hyuuga for…who knows how many years? But she had always been scared. Scared of what would happen if she _did _tell him. Many times, she wondered what would become of their friendship if she told him. The reason she never told him was because…well, her precious friendship with him was at stake. Ten Ten always valued her friendship first.

But, recently, things were getting more complicated. Some of Neji's actions were prodding her to change her mind about _never_ telling him.

**F L A S H B A C K**

_"…am I…just…a one night fling?" she had asked. _

_"Well…" long pause. "…You know you mean more to me than that." _

**F L A S H B A C K**

_'You know you mean more to me than that'_…Ten Ten had thought over that last statement many, many times. Was it a hint to her that they were something more than friends? Or was she just thinking too much?

Tonight, however, the environment they were in right now was just so…fitting for telling him what she felt. At least for Ten Ten, that's what it felt like.

_'In an old lady's bedroom…I never thought that this would be where I'll tell him…' _she took a breath and let it out.

She refused to acknowledge that she was blushing like _crazy._

"Neji…" she began.

Ten Ten couldn't bring herself to say what she wanted to say immediately.

"…You know…I really was thinking about that night…" she said.

Neji just looked at her. She could tell that he was listening intently.

"I…just wanted to tell you…that I…"

She _still _couldn't bring herself to say 'I like you' in front of him. Ten Ten desperately wished that she could rewind all this, rewind the moment, so that this wouldn't have happened. However, she knew that it was too late to stop anything now.

"…I…I-I…."

Ten Ten ventured a look up into the Hyuuga's face. To her surprise, he looked a bit uncomfortable. Actually, he looked _very _uncomfortable. Was it a trick of the light or did he look slightly red?

The two stared at each other. Ten Ten totally forgot about finishing her sentence.

"Ten Ten, why don't you just go to sleep."

She sighed in relief. "Yea, I think I'll go to sleep. Care to take the watch?"

Neji nodded. "Sure. Make yourself comfortable."

As Ten Ten was about the lean the other way and go to sleep, Neji gently pulled her to rest on his shoulder. He put a hand on her head.

"…Neji!" Ten Ten said hushedly.

He didn't reply. And she didn't make a move to pull away from him either. After a long, long while, the Hyuuga finally spoke.

"…I think I feel that way too, Ten Ten. So, go to sleep, okay?" he whispered.

"….Okay…"

And so, even though the two never confessed their liking for each other, a silent agreement was woven in between them.

_'Oh well…he's a mind reader after all…'_

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	16. Quarrel

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XVI: Quarrel _**

The next morning dawned bright, not taking any notice of the dreadful events that took place the night before. Sakura had woken up feeling great, for she had had a very good sleep last night. The sparring match with Sasuke had left her exhausted, and there was nothing better to recharge her energy than a good night's sleep.

The pink haired girl balanced the plate that she held in her hand and looked at the enormous mounts of food that sat in front of her. She was currently in the Konoha Hot Springs' dining room in the next building. Sakura had purposely woken up early to eat the free buffet that the service offered… or rather, to avoid Sasuke's arrogant smirk.

Sakura found that she could _not _take any more of Sasuke's haughty attitude after losing the sparring match to him last night. She knew she should have been proud. After all, she lost him by only a _little, tiny, _bit. However, she was not one bit satisfied. Losing to him one time only made her more determined to beat him next time.

_'If only I didn't have a freakin' crush on him…!'_

Sakura pierced her chopsticks down at the piece of sushi from the buffet table, intending to put it on her plate. Unfortunately, she had put in a little too much emotion and force in picking up the sushi. As a result, the sushi went flying over her back and hitting someone smack in the middle of his forehead.

"Oh, sorry, I'm so sorry!" Sakura quickly put down her plate and went to help brush the remains of the sushi off of the guy's forehead.

As Sakura was about to take her hands off, the guy swiftly caught her hand. Sakura gave the guy a confused look, and observed him. The guy who she had previously maimed had long purple hair secured in a braid. On his neck, he wore a bandana that showed that he was from the Sound Village.

"…Uhm…sir? Will you please let go of my hand?" Sakura inquired, looking into the guy's obviously dreamy look.

The purple haired guy smiled.

"Of course…Miss…?" he gently let go of her wrist.

"…I'm Haruno, Sakura…" Sakura replied with an apologetic look. "…Look, I'm really sorry about—"

"—Oh, no need, no need. I'm Jiro," he flashed another flamboyant smile. "…But I know how you can make up for it."

"Oh, yes, of course, sir. Anything!" she said genuinely, for she really did feel guilty for being mannerless earlier.

"Eat with me, Sakura?" Jiro picked up the plate that Sakura had placed down earlier and handed it back to her.

Sakura accepted. "Of course!"

A few minutes later, after the two had already gotten their food, they sat at their own little table in the corner of the room.

"…So, Sakura…what brings a pretty girl like you here to the Konoha Hot Springs? …Just a vacation? …Or is it some other business?" Jiro asked Sakura, politely demonstrating all the perfect table manners while eating.

Sakura reddened a bit at being called 'pretty girl'.

_'If only Sasuke-kun would call me that, even once! But no, he's too arrogant, bigheaded, selfish, cold, annoy—'_

"…Sakura? Are you okay?" the guy in front of her broke her out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Yea, yes! I'm okay, sorry," Sakura blushed at making a fool of herself _again. _"…I'm actually here because it's my friend's birthday and well, he invited me here."

"Hmm…yes, I see…" then, Jiro got up.

He picked up both his own cup and Sakura's.

"I'm going to go get more drinks. What would you like, Sakura?"

"Lemonade, please," Sakura replied.

Jiro nodded and went off the get the drinks. A while later, he returned and placed the two cups on the table.

"Thanks, Jiro," Sakura picked up the cup and was about to take a sip out of it when…she smelt a familiar smell coming from the cup.

_'…T-This smell…I could recognize it anywhere! Valerian, chamomile, passion flower, lemon balm…T-This…is just a normal sleeping poison! Totally safe for the body but will make you sleep like crazy…Why the heck does Jiro want me to sleep!'_

"Sakura-chan? Is there anything wrong with the lemonade?" Jiro asked, betraying no sign of his real emotions.

Apparently, he had already seen Sakura hesitate to drink the lemonade. Sakura slowly placed the cup down, trying to make everything look natural. Her guards were up now.

"No, nothing, Jiro, I just felt like eating the food first," Sakura flashed him a charming smile and bit a piece out of her meat convincingly.

"Oh. Okay, then, Sakura-chan!" Jiro smiled back.

Sakura continued to plaster the fake smile on her face while her mind was running wildly.

_'Oh no…what should I do! This guy's trying to poison me…should I just knock him out! No, no that will cause a big commotion in the room…Should I—WAIT. HOLD IT. HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID! Jiro…could easily the person who kidnapped Ino and Naruto! I have GOT to get him outta here before I do anything to him…I don't want a huge commotion in this place…' _ Then, Sakura's eyes lit up.

She had an idea.

"Jiro…I really need to…talk to you outside…" Sakura flashed him a sexy smile.

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Sasuke leaned back on the truck of the big oak tree. He was currently perched on a branch, reading a book. Even though people _rarely _saw the Uchiha reading, he _did _read. He liked reading too. Well, they say every smart person likes reading. Sasuke was no exception. The Uchiha could _possibly _be described as a bookworm at times, but he would probably kill you if he heard you saying that.

"…Well, well! I'm surprised! Am I that irresistible?"

Sasuke twitched at the sound of someone speaking from a short distance. He did _not _like being disturbed when he was reading, training, sleeping, or eating.

_'Just some stupid annoying guests…' _He thought.

"…Well…Right! Yes! You are really irresistible!" a girl voice cried out.

The Uchiha was really losing his temper.

_'Gosh! That girl's voice is SO annoying! Just like Sakura!' _Sasuke froze when realization hit him. _'Shit. That voice IS Sakura! Damn!. Why'd she have to come and disturb the peace of the morning!'_

No matter what he previously thought, Sasuke still decided to perk up his ears at what Sakura was saying. When Sakura and the strange purple-haired guy came into view, Sasuke tried to remain as quiet as he could, so that the two wouldn't recognize him.

"I'm flattered, Sakura-chan! You really are _so _cute!" the purple haired guy said.

Sasuke scowled silently. _'…Cheap flirting…'_

"Well, Jiro-kun, you are cute too!" Sakura replied in a super sweet voice.

The Uchiha froze again for the second time that morning.

_'What the fuck!' _ Sasuke had the sudden urge to jump down from his tree right now and give _both _the purple-haired guy and Sakura a good beating up.

"Then, Sakura-chan! Since you like me so much…why don't you prove it to me with a kiss?" Jiro gave Sakura a sly smile.

Sakura blushed prettily.

"Jiro…I don't know…"

Jiro gave Sakura a disappointed look and did a cute little pout. "Pleeeeeeaaasseeee?"

Sakura giggled. "Okay, then."

The pink-haired girl placed her hands on both of Jiro's shoulders and leaned up to give the Sound shinobi a kiss. Sasuke in his tree was shocked beyond belief. _And _angry beyond belief. In a split second, the Uchiha had disappeared from the tree and now held Sakura in a headlock.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" she screamed in surprise.

"What the _fuck _do you think you're doing, Sakura!" Sasuke hissed unpleasantly into her ear.

Jiro calmly watched the scene, obviously very confused.

"Ahhh! AHHH!" Sakura tried to pry out of Sasuke's stiff headlock. "Off. OFF! Sasuke! IT HURTS! GET OFF!"

Sasuke did not comply to Sakura's wishes, nor did he calm down. In fact, he was so riled up that his Sharingan eyes began to become visible.

"No," the Uchiha replied in a harsh whisper. "…I am going to kill you."

His grip hardened. Now, Sakura couldn't even breathe.

"Hey. That's not how you treat a lady," Jiro suddenly spoke up.

Sasuke turned to him with deadly eyes.

"…And I am going to kill you too," Sasuke replied.

"S-Sasuke! No! This is _not _what it looks like, you _stubborn ass!" _ Sakura managed to choke out.

"Not what it looks like, heh? That's not going to save you from dying," Sasuke jeered at her.

"S-Shut up and listen to me…please…" Sakura gave the Uchiha a pleading look.

She really needed oxygen now. To her surprise, Sasuke now did release her.

"Fine. Say your last words," his Sharingan eyes bore into hers.

"First of all, Sasuke, they are _not _my last words because I am _not _going to die. Second of all, I'm PRETENDING. You understand!...PRETENDING to kiss that idiot guy over there because he is probably the kidnapper of Ino and Naruto!" Sakura told the Uchiha impatiently.

"Hey! Don't call me a—" Jiro started.

"What! Sakura, you weren't _pretending. _Liar," Sasuke practically hissed poison out of his mouth.

"You guys don't ignore—"Again, Jiro got cut off.

"LIAR! Liar, huh! Well don't blame me if your stupid _Sharingan _eyes can't even _see _the difference between _real _and _fake _acting! If I'm a liar, you're a _stubborn ass!_"

"Stop it! Did you forget I'm—" Jiro really hated being ignored.

"Well then, Sakura you annoying bitch. How do you explain _how _you even got to _know _that's he the enemy, huh?" Sasuke glared.

"For your information, I went to eat the buffet with him and—"

"—What! YOU. Went. And Ate. With. Him. I SEE. I really see _how _that explains that you _weren't _going slutty with him."

That did it. There was nothing Sakura hated more than being called slutty. A vein surely popped in her head.

"Arghhhhhhhh!" Sakura charged at the Uchiha, prepared to land a hard punch into his face.

Sasuke dodged the punch, only to be met with another one, which he blocked with some difficulty. And another one came. And another. And another. Sakura never seemed to get tired. Her power ran fully on her anger. Sasuke blocked every single blow. But he wasn't prepared for her to just _totally _stop her movements all of a sudden. So, he stopped too. Bad idea.

Sakura gave him a _hard _slap on his face. Sasuke was so shocked that he fell to the ground. He quickly recovered, glared at her, and prepared to get up and get his revenge. However, Sakura came down and pinned him against the ground, her eyes dangerous.

"I am _not _slutty, you bastard Uchiha," she told him with fury. "…And you will _stay _here and listen to what I have to say or you are _not _going anywhere, you dumbass."

"Be quick about your last words then, annoying bitch," he retorted back, even thought he made no move to stand up again.

Sakura glared.

"Fine, idiot. As I was saying, I was eating the breakfast buffet with Jiro," she paused to see his reaction.

Sasuke still glared back at her. Sakura assumed that since he didn't say any words, she could continue.

"…And then Jiro brings me some lemonade. I was about to drink it when I smelt sleeping poison. So, I suspected he might be the kidnapper. Get it?" Sakura gave Sasuke a exasperated look.

"…That doesn't explain why you were making out."

Sakura scowled. _'Why, oh, why did I HAVE to have a crush on this stupid guy! I hate him!' _

"I didn't want to make a commotion in the dining room. So, I lured him out here by acting like that," she finished and frowned down at him.

"…Tcsh. Stupid, there are other ways to lure him out," Sasuke's eyes had now returned to normal, although it was obvious that he was still very pissed.

Sakura leaned closer down to him with a deadly glare. "Stop being such a _stubborn ass. _There are other ways, _yes, _all of which attract other people's attention."

For once, Sasuke couldn't fire back a clever retort. So, he gave her the meanest look that he could manage. Vice versa. After about two minutes of the glaring, Sakura finally remembered something. She stopped her glaring at the Uchiha and her eyes widened in terror. Sasuke noticed this.

"What?"

Sakura quickly got off of him.

"D-Dumbass…We…forgot to keep a look on Jiro," Sakura said in a furious whisper. "…He's…gone!"

Sasuke sat up. He looked pretty pissed off now that he realized what just happened. The enemy had slipped from their _own hands. _He turned to shoot Sakura another unpleasant look.

"…All because of you. You're so annoying," he also shot an insult at her.

Sakura gave him a defiant stare.

"…Well, if _you _hadn't interrupted my 'making out' with Jiro, I would have caught him!"

"Don't make me laugh, Sakura…You? Catch that guy by yourself? Don't lie to yourself, Sakura. You're weak," he mocked.

Well, Sasuke had said a forbidden word in Sakura's vocabulary again. 'Weak'. She raised her right hand to give him another slap. He quickly caught her hand. She was not fazed. She raised up her other hand to slap him. He caught that one too, and forced them both to the ground. Now, he was the one to pin her down.

"G-Get off, Sasuke, we have to follow Jiro!"

He smirked.

"That cheap shinobi…he'll be caught by one of us sooner or later. I have more important issues to deal with here."

"Like what?" even though Sakura's voice was rebellious, her face was reddening.

He was leaning closer to her, too close for her comfort, just like she had done to him earlier, but in fury. Now, however, he was just supporting the universal look of smirkness on his face.

"You, Sakura. Remember that you said you liked me?" he said in a slightly demanding tone.

**F L A S H B A C K**

_"May I ask you one thing?"_

_"What?" he looked at her._

_"Do you still think I'm annoying?"_

_He smirked. "Do you still like me?"_

_Sakura's face went as pink as her hair. There was a long pause._

_"Y-Yes…" the answer that finally came was barely audible. _

_"Then yes, you're still annoying."_

**F L A S H B A C K**

"Y-Yea! So what!" Sakura retorted.

"So, I say you are _never _allowed to flirt or do _anything _with any other guy except me," He said with an unemotional face.

He seemed to think that it was completely normal for him to say this. The idea that maybe he was being too possessive never entered his head. Normally, as a girl, Sakura felt rebellious.

"…Oh, yea? So what if I like you! What if I _flirt _with EVERY OTHER GUY, huh?" she gave him a fierce look, her cheeks turning into a deeper crimson.

Sasuke, apparently, had already returned to his normal brooding mood. No visible emotion showed on his face.

"Then, Sakura. I'm going to do this to you," he said, his eyes merciless.

He tilted his head down closer to her and roughly crushed his lips down onto hers. She had no time to protest.

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Jiro had decided to escape in the middle of the 'lover's quarrel', according to him. When he saw Sasuke and the Sharingan eyes, Jiro knew that he couldn't take _both _the girl and the Uchiha at once. The Sound shinobi fully knew that Sakura was strong, even though she looked cute and sweet.

"Shit. I was this close to capturing Sakura!" he burst out aloud.

"Hold it."

Jiro stopped at the mysterious voice coming from the back of a tree.

"Who's there?" he asked, a little impatiently.

The purple-haired boy was not in the best of moods, mainly because his kidnapping plans have just failed.

A guy with frizzy hair and sunglasses stepped out from the shadow. A swarm of bees were surrounding the guy.

_'…I see…this must be the boy from the Aburame family…the family that uses bugs as their weapon…very interesting,' _thought Jiro, suppressing a grin.

"I heard what you said, unfortunately for you," Shino stated.

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**Joyce: **Hey guys! As a sorry for the long delay, this chappie is extra long:D


	17. The Anger Within

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XVII: The Anger Within_**

Jiro just smirked at the guy.

"Ohayou, I take it you must be from the Aburame clan?"

Shino didn't answer. His sunglasses harshly reflected the morning sunlight. The swarm of flying insects around him seemed to have awakened. It charged directly for Jiro. Jiro sighed and shook his head. The purple-haired guy didn't even seem fazed at the cloud of insects flying at him.

"Aburame, unfortunately, I don't like insects much," Jiro reached into the pouch that was secured to his waist and brought out some green powder.

The Sound shinobi threw the mysterious powder at the swarm of insects that were flying at him. All of a sudden, the insects seemed to have slowed down. Slowly, the small creatures all dropped to the ground. Shino's emotions couldn't be read under his sunglasses.

"...Say bye bye to all your creepy crawlies, Aburame," Jiro grinned evilly. "…But don't worry, I won't kill you just yet. I'm dragging your ass to Orochimaru-sama!"

At the sound of Orochimaru's name, Shino flinched slightly.

"…Why did Orochimaru send you?" the bug guy asked darkly.

Jiro stuck out his tongue playfully. "I'm not gonna tell you!"

Suddenly, Jiro felt something itchy at his back. He reached his hand backwards to scratch it…only to find his hand full of bugs. Jiro _despised _bugs.

"A-Ahhhhhh!"

In seconds, his whole body was held still by Shino's insects.

"W-Why…H-How did you manage to…?" Jiro managed to choke out.

"Fool. The insects that were flying at you were a trick. The ones that are on you right now…I ordered them to sneak up on you by the ground. I'd left a female bug on you in order to leave a scent trail long before you knew it…" Shino's sunglasses flashed dangerously.

Then, Jiro got knocked out cold.

"Tcsh…cheap shinobi…" Shino dragged Jiro away.

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Jiro opened his eyes up to see twelve pairs of eyes staring back at him.

"He's awake!" Ten Ten cried.

"Yea…hey, Ten Ten, everyone, stay back I'm going to question him," Shikamaru pulled up a chair close to the bedside.

Jiro tried to get up but he couldn't budge. He found that both of his hands and legs were tied to the bedside. He'd also been stripped of all his poisoning weapons.

"…Yes, that's right, you can't get away. Now answer all our questions," Shikamaru informed the Sound nin sternly.

The purple-haired shinobi shot the Nara a sour faced look.

"No way! I'm not stupid, you know!" Jiro struggled against the bonds that tied him to his bed.

It was no use.

"Just tell us, dammit!" Chouji burst out, angry.

He'd been quite worried about Ino, his teammate. Shikamaru held Chouji back.

"Hey…calm down, Chouji. I'll deal with this," Shikamaru turned to give Jiro another stern look. "…Now, tell us who you are, why're you here, what Orochimaru wants from us, and where the hostages are kept."

Jiro stuck out his tongue.

"No!"

Shikamaru shook his head. "You asked for it, Sound shinobi. Gaara?"

The red-haired Sand shinobi lightly nodded his head and came forward. Jiro's eyes widened. He recognized the Chinese character on Gaara's forehead.

_'Sabaku no Gaara…'_

In the blink of an eye, sand surrounded the Sound nin's body. It squeezed tighter and tighter.

"A-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jiro screamed in painful terror.

Sasuke smirked at the sound. _'As I thought…cheap shinobi…'_

Shikamaru still stood at the bedside.

"Now, _will _you tell us where Temari is?..." Strange looks came the Nara's way. The Nara reddened. "…Oh, and Ino and Naruto?"

Jiro couldn't even answer. Gaara's sand was too horrible.

"S-S-STOP! PLEASE!"

"Hey, brother. Stop your sand for a while. We need to hear him speak," Kankurou said.

Immediately, the sand dropped.

"Tell us," Shikamaru was getting impatient. "…_Now._"

Jiro took a few moments to catch his breath.

"…I-I…" the Sound nin started. "…don't know what you're talking about! I didn't kidnap anyone! I don't know what the _fuck _is Orochimaru!"

No one was fooled. Now, the Nara was loosing his temper…which he rarely did. A Shadow jutsu crept its way up Jiro's neck and squeezed it.

"…_Tell me now where the hostages are…_" Everyone was equally surprised at how the Nara could sound this _determined_.

"Yea! Where are they!" Sakura was equally enraged.

She had been quite worried about her best friends when she had just heard this morning that Temari had also been kidnapped the night before. Sakura knew that Temari was strong. If _Temari _could be taken, anyone else in their group could be taken!

"No!"

"I don't think talking is going to work…" Neji commented and looked at Gaara.

Gaara knew his job. It's been a long time since his sand made people scream in pain and fear. He didn't enjoy it anymore. But now, he didn't mind, since the guy he was tormenting was an enemy. He activated his sand again…but then, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. The redhead turned to find none other than Hinata, the Hyuuga heir.

"…Excuse me, Gaara...Please let me handle this…" she said quietly.

Neji was surprised. It was…weird for Hinata not to stammer. Hinata pushed apart all the people crowding around the bedside. She walked up to Jiro, who looked confused.

"Will you please kindly tell us where the hostages are?"

"NO!"

Jiro had made a _huge _mistake. A dangerous aura arose from Hinata. Her Byakugan activated out of anger.

"_Tell me where the hostages are. Now._"

Hinata rose up her right hand and slapped Jiro on his face, so hard that a red mark immediately appeared. Everyone in the room froze. Who the hell knew that the Hyuuga heir could be this scary.

"Will you please tell me _now?_" Hinata asked again.

"NO!"

_Slap. Slap. Slap. _

"_Tell me_?"

Jiro was starting to waver. "N-No!"

_Slap. Slap. Slap. Slap._

A bit of blood was starting to form on the Sound nin's cheeks. No one else in the room, not even Neji, had the nerve to stop Hinata now. Jiro looked like he was about to cry.

"Miss! P-Please stop!"

Jiro's pleading did not seem to soften Hinata one bit.

"Will you tell me?"

Jiro did not answer. He just shook his head. Hinata climbed up onto the bed and stood over the guy. She looked mercilessly down at the Sound nin.

"I apologize," Hinata stated before bending down to give a series of punches down onto the Sound nin's stomach.

The purple-haired shinobi coughed up blood. Neji's eyes widened.

_'If my cousin doesn't stop soon, he's really going to die…' _the Hyuuga male thought.

Eventually, Hinata stopped.

"Will you tell me _now?_" Hinata offered Jiro the chance to answer again.

"NO!"

As the Hyuuga heir was about to give Jiro another series of punches, the Sound nin yelled out.

"F-FINE! STOP! MISS! STOP, PLEASE! I'LL TELL YOU!" Jiro shouted out.

Hinata did not budge from her position.

"Is what you are going to tell me going to be the _truth?_" she asked.

"Y-YES! OF COURSE, MISS!" Jiro shouted out.

_'Who would dare to lie to this dangerous woman!'_

Hinata nodded and jumped down from the bed. Her calm, sweet expression was back. She smiled at Jiro.

"Please explain," she said sweetly, a deadly poison hidden behind the words.

"I…the hostages…I only know where one of them is…the one called Ino…that's because my sister Emiko caught the other two hostages. I don't know where she put them. I hadn't had further contact with her since the day we arrived here…" the Sound nin explained in a wary voice.

"I-Ino! I-Is she…safe?" Sakura spoke up, a look of desperation in her eyes.

"Yea, she's safe. She's in my room right now…"

Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief.

"What does Orochimaru want?" Sasuke suddenly questioned.

"…I don't know his entire plan…but me and my sister…I think it's along the lines of…Orochimaru wants another perfect body…so he needs fifteen bodies of talented shinobis…which you guys have the perfect number here….and he wants to capture all of you, merge your bodies with a new forbidden scroll he found…and well…POOF! New body!...Well, you guys get the picture, right?" Jiro let out a hopeless sigh.

"…Bastard," Sasuke commented.

Jiro looked up.

"You mean I'm the bastard or Orochimaru is?"

"…Both, idiots," the Uchiha replied.  
"Jiro! Where's Ino right now? Please lead me to her!" Sakura said.

The Sound nin was about to decline when he spotted Hinata staring dangerously at him from the corner of his eye. He immediately decided to do as Sakura asked.

"Fine, okay…will ya just untie me first!"

Kiba came up. "I'll handle this."

In moments, Kiba had the Sound nin untied except for the hands. Kiba prodded Jiro to go in front and lead to where Ino was. Everyone followed. Eventually, the purple-haired shinobi stopped in from of room number 009. Kiba got the keys out of Jiro's pocket and unlocked the door, to find Ino sleeping on the king-sized bed. Sakura ran to shake up her best friend awake.

"Ino! Ino! Wake up! Are you alright? I've come to rescue you!" the pink-haired girl cried.

Ino groggily opened her eyes.

"E-Eh? Sakura? How'd you get here?"

Sakura didn't answer; she just pulled her blonde friend into a tight hug.

"Ino! I'm so relieved that you're safe! Jiro didn't do anything to you, right?"

"Well…no…except for making me unconscious and kidnapping me, he didn't really do anything bad. He treated me very well, as a hostage…" Ino smiled at her pink-haired friend and hugged back. "…But I'm still glad you found me!"

After that, the two friends walked up to the others, who had already come in the room. Sakura made her way up to Jiro. Unknown to her, Sasuke narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Um…Jiro..I just wanted to thank you that you treated Ino so well! Thanks for not killing her or anything!" Sakura smiled at the purple-haired nin.

In spite of being a prisoner now, Jiro flirtatiously smiled back.

"Anytime, Sakura-chan…" he leaned closer, even though he was tied up behind his back. "…Do you still find me hot?"

Sakura blushed a deep shade of pink. Everyone looked at her, confused. They obviously didn't know about her previous plan to try and _seduct _Jiro and catch him earlier. Sasuke's eyes were only slits now.

"…Ooooh….Sakura-chan! Hahahaha, you naughty girl! You were two-timing between Sasuke and Jiro?" Ino gave Sakura a melodramatic shocked look.

"N-No, Ino! It's not like that!" Sakura tried to explain.

"Aww….it's not like that? How could you be soo cruel, Sakura-chan? Didn't you tell me earlier that you found me _irresistible?_" Jiro cut in at the perfect cue.

A flash of blue flew past Sakura's eyes. In moments, Jiro lay crumpled on the floor. Sakura looked at the Sound nin in shock and looked up into Sasuke's face.

"…You…didn't have to do that, you know."

"….Let's just say I did," he looked at her emotionlessly.

Ino just looked in between the two and laughed.

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**Joyce: **Hey guys, again, I LUFF YOU AND UR REVIEWS! Really. Lol. Yea…and _again…_sorry for long delay! _This time's excuses: _**1.** Been forced by sister to read Inuyasha. I'd say it's an okay-okay story…not too good, not too bad. But I this guy called Sesshoumaru. **2**. Been watchin the Inuyasha movies… :D… **3.** Been busy drawing…busy with my account..:) …oh, yea. I drew this cover page for my fic…not _that _good but if you'd like to see it soon I'll post it up somewhere…lol :D **4.** WRITER'S BLOCK! Yes, I have a writer's block. Well, every writer has that thing some time or the other, right? _So, SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!_ Really. And, even if you suggest and I don't use your ideas, your suggestions will give me ideas anyway….like, as an inspiration….hmm..that came out weird. I wonder if any of you understand what I'm saying. Okay…yea. So you _better review_:)


	18. I See Butterflies

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XVIII: I See Butterflies_**

_WOOF, WOOF!_

Kiba and the others ran after Akamaru. With his fast pace, Lee soon caught up with the brown-furred dog.

"Akamaru, have you found something?" The green beast of Konoha asked.

_WOOF!_

Kiba came up behind them and crouched down next to Akamaru.

"My dog says this is where the scent leads," Kiba looked up at Lee.

"Hmm…." Lee furrowed his fuzzy brows. "...Well then, let's go into there now!"

"Y-yes…let's go, please," Hinata walked pass all of them, holding Naruto's dog, Ramen, in her arms.

"Hinata…why don't we stop," Shikamaru spoke up from behind.

Hinata halted without turning around.

"…It's a bad idea to go into that forest during the night," the Nara explained. "…I understand how you feel. I want to go and rescue them too."

Shikamaru still felt that Temari's capture had been his fault.

"O-Okay…" Hinata replied in a hoarse whisper and walked back to the gang.

Neji patted her gently on the back.

"We'll continue our search into the forest tomorrow morning, cousin," the Hyuuga male said, somewhat reassuringly.

Hinata nodded with a strained smile on her face.

_'If I meet him again…there will be no hesitation…I'll tell Naruto…' _she thought, walking away from the others to go back to her room.

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However, Emiko had a different idea in her mind. Plans could _not _wait till morning. After all, she was an enemy. Previously, the Sound nin had sneaked back up to her brother's room to check up on him. Finding the blonde hostage gone, Emiko now knew that her brother had been captured.

_'All the more reason to catch those stupid shinobis!' _Emiko thought, cracking her knuckles.

The blue-haired nin leaned back onto the tree trunk clutching a piece of paper in her hand. On the piece of paper were the names of the fifteen shinobis that she was supposed to kidnap. The names Naruto, Temari, and Ino were currently crossed out. Emiko erased the line that crossed out Ino's name, since Ino had been rescued back. Emiko's blue eyes roamed through the remaining list of names.

_'Hmm…so who should my next victim be?' _she ran her finger down the list. _'Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo…'_

Her fingers stopped on Gaara's name. Her facial color drained. Sabaku no Gaara's name was famous throughout the land. Emiko knew that she did _not _want to face the redhead, even if it were Orochimaru's orders to do so. She had always planned to go back to Orochimaru with fourteen bodies, not fifteen, and tell her master that she could not capture Gaara. So, the blue-haired nin sighed and did her 'Eenie, meenie, minie, mo' again.

Her slender finger landed itself on Sakura. Now that, _that, _Emiko was sure she could manage.

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Sakura was not a person to hold grudges. She had already forgotten her fight with Sasuke the previous morning. So, needless to say, she was back to her sweet, usual self.

"Sasuke-kun! Do you want to go and eat some cake with me in that restaurant in the next building?" Sakura asked enthusiastically

"No."

"…Hm…okay then. How about….do you want to go and visit Hinata in her room? She seems pretty nervous about Naruto being kidnapped."

"No."

Sakura slightly stuck her lower lip out and shifted her sitting position on her bed.

_'He's my crush, but he's no fun.'_

So, the pink-haired shinobi decided to change the topic.

"I'm worried about Naruto and Temari...I hope nothing bad happens to them…"

Sasuke turned to look at her.

"Those bastards can take care of themselves."

"…" Sakura had no more words to say.

The silence was very discomforting. Unknown to both of them, a certain blue-haired Sound nin was watching them from outside their window. Emiko the Sound nin quietly took out a red pill from her pocket, split it in half, and poured out the red powder in the pill onto her hand. Tucking her blue hair behind her ears, she brought up her open palm to her mouth and blew. The red powder, as if it was under her power, flew through the slightly open window to where Sasuke was sitting.

Sasuke suddenly saw glowing, red butterflies in front of him. He also felt kind of fuzzy, but fuzzy in a very comfortable way.

_'Wow…those butterflies…very beautiful…No! They're UGLY! Ugly!'_

He desperately tried to shake his head and clear his mind of the butterflies. However, the spell was too strong.

_'Wow…such pretty creatures…' _

The Uchiha had stood up and reached his hands out to catch the butterflies without even knowing it. However, the red butterflies kept flying farther and farther away from him. Sasuke took one step…two steps in the direction where the butterflies were flying. Then, he followed the red butterflies right out the door.

Sakura just sat there, confused beyond belief.

_'W-What was that!'_

Then, she quickly got up to go find Sasuke in case he was _really _sick. Sakura could only see Sasuke staring up at the empty air and groping at something invisible. Unfortunately, as soon as the pink-haired girl got up, her knees buckled under her. She found that she could not move _any _part of her body at all!

"W-What happened!" Sakura cried to herself in disbelief.

As if to answer her question, Emiko pushed open the window from outside and jumped into the room.

"…You're paralyzed," the Sound nin informed her. "…and as you've suspected, I _am _Emiko, Orochimaru's servant."

Sakura's eyes got wide…then angry.

"Stop it right now! What did you _do _to Sasuke!"

Emiko knelt down to look at her.

"Why don't you worry about yourself first, Sakura?" With that, the Sound nin scooped Sakura up and carried her out the window.

Sakura protested all the way. Even if she couldn't move any part of her body, her mouth was still available.

"Stop it! STOP IT! PUT ME DOWN!" she practically shouted into Emiko's ear.

Emiko flinched slightly and shifted Sakura's position, so that the pink-haired shinobi's mouth wouldn't be right next to her ear. That didn't seem to faze Sakura at all.

"I _swear, _if you harm Sasuke, or _any _of my friends at that, I will _kill _you! I will kick you ass so that you'll wish you've never been born! And then I'll _peel _your skin off of your bodies and _pull _your fingernails out and _then_ chop your bodies into a thousand pieces and…"

The blue-haired Sound nin was getting annoyed, but didn't show it. She pretended to ignore her hostage.

_'Ugh…I almost wished I captured somebody else first…this Sakura girl really talks too much…' _Emiko thought.

Sakura's screams were not completely ignored, though. Sasuke, who had supposedly followed the butterflies out to the front yard, spotted Sakura being carried by Emiko in the air.

"S-Sakura!" the Uchiha hoarsely whispered trying to break the spell of the butterflies…but it was really hard. His eyes were entranced by the beautiful butterflies…

_'No, not beautiful! Those butterflies are a trick! Save that annoying Sakura first, you idiot!' _he told himself.

The butterflies fluttered in front of his vision again.

_'So…ugh…beautiful…'_

They began to lead him in the opposite direction of where Sakura was going. The Uchiha forced himself to halt right there.

_'Argh! Stop it! Stop following those butterflies!'_

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Meanwhile, the rest of the gang had also heard Sakura's screams of rage.

"Is that what I think it is, Neji?" Ten Ten peeked her head out of her room in her nightgown.

Gaara was behind her.

The Hyuuga nodded. "I think so. Come on, Ten Ten, let's follow. Gaara, you can go alert the others."

The two jumped out of the window.

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Hinata joined Ino, Kankurou, Lee, and Chouji, who were running out of the building.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, so you heard the screams too?"

"Y-Yes, I did…" even though she stammered, Hinata's eyes were determined.

"…Hey, guys, you know what. Those screams sounded like Sakura's voice," Ino informed her group.

They kept running.

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"Faster, Gaara, _faster!" _Kiba shouted into the air gleefully.

Akamaru also barked in cheerfully. The two were currently sitting on Gaara's sand in the air, being transported in the direction of the screams.

"Shut up, idiot! This is not a racing sled, okay?" Shikamaru said, annoyed at Kiba's obvious excitement at being transported on sand.

Gaara ignored Shikamaru's comment and turned to Kiba from his position at the head of his 'racing sled'.

"Racing sled?" the redhead asked of the dog boy.

Apparently, the infamous Sabaku no Gaara had never heard of one.

"Whoa, man! You _really _gotta dig into life, ya know that? I'll show you what a racing sled is sometime! I got one at home!" Kiba grinned.

Gaara seemed interested. "Really…that's good…"

"Course it is! It--"A big bump appeared on Kiba's head.

Shikamaru had bopped the dog-boy on the head. "Stop. That. Foolishness!"

"Fine, Fine _mommy…_" Kiba replied, pouting. "…Was just trying to show Gaara around on the path of life…"

"Yea," surprisingly, Gaara agreed with Kiba.

Kiba gave Gaara a hi-five. Shikamaru slapped his hand on his forehead in hopelessness at the two.

"Ugh…whatever. Let's just get there, okay!"

Never had the Nara genius sounded so determined.

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"ARGHHHHHHHHHH! FUCKING BUTTERFLIES!" the Uchiha had finally broke the spell, but it made his knees so weak that he had to kneel on the ground.

Sasuke quickly recovered and shakily stood up. He ran after the Gaara's sand transporter that was in the sky.

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"What _are _you _doing!_" Sakura cried in displeasure.

"I'm _tying _you to the tree, duh," Emiko tightened the knot on the tree.

Sakura huffed. She was now too tired to scream any more.

"_Why? _And where're Naruto and Temari!"

Emiko sighed. Personally, she thought that the pink-haired girl cared about her comrades too much.

"I'm tying you here because I'm too tired to go back to my hideout in the forest. Just keep quiet and stay here with me till morning, okay?"

Sakura was not satisfied. "…And where's Naruto and Temari?"

"…At my cave hideout in the forest," Emiko answered wearily.

"...Emiko, you know you won't get out of this…" Sakura snarled threateningly.

"Oh? …And why not?"

The pink-haired shinobi glared. "I'll get out of this myself!"

"...And if you don't?" Emiko smirked.

"…Then…my friends! ...They'll come and rescue me!" Sakura retorted.

_'…At least, I'm sure Naruto and Lee will come…'_

Emiko had an evil look on her face.

"Well, in that case, I've set some traps along the ways just for them…"

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Neji and Ten Ten were running along the trees. The two were currently the closest ones to Sakura's location. The rustle of trees and the occasional hoot of an owl were all that were heard in the night.

_'I wonder if Sakura-chan is okay…' _Ten Ten thought.

A moment later, Ten Ten lost her footage. Neji too, stopped in his tracks. Ten Ten stared at her surroundings, wide-eyed.

"W-What is this, Neji!" her voice sounded a bit alarmed.

"Ten Ten, your guess is as good as mine."

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**Joyce: **Hey, sorry, people for now replying reviews last time! I was lazy. Hehehe…no good excuse this time. So, this time…I'll answer some reviews:

**_To Lightfellow: _**Whoa! I'm so glad that you liked my story and read it all in one go! Hehehe thank you! And I will try to have Gaara have more SHOWTIME! Lol I love that guy!

**_To lunarangel: _**Hm…your betraying idea sounds interesting! I will keep that in mind! Thanks for the suggestion! I think my writer's block is half-gone now :D.

**_To Blackangeltwin1: _**Hey, lol thanx for the suggestion for me to look at the moon at night! …I really must try that out sometime.

**_To bakusensei: _**Awww, thanks for the compliment. That's so sweet. Thanks, thanks, and more thanks!

**_To purerandomness: _**LOL! Cute, cute suggestion! Thanks!

**_To Animesenko: _**Ya! SESSHY RULEZ!

**_To TheGurlWithNoName: _**Hmm…I am not sure who's to be paired up with Ino…but maybe no one? Lol…well I'm just telling you, it's definitely not Chouji, so be relieved:) I like them better as friends…

**_To Dragon Man 180: _**lol, ya….didn't know what got into me when I made Hinata that scary:)

…ya, so that's all for this time! Please, please, review:D


	19. Traps

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XIX: Traps_**

Ten Ten immediately ran and pressed her back towards Neji's. The two couldn't afford to have an enemy sneak up from behind. Both readied themselves in fighting stance. However, even after two minutes or so, there was no visible sign of an enemy.

Neji observed his surroundings. It didn't look like the same trees that he and Ten Ten had just ran in. Instead, the trees now looked like neatly trimmed, tall bushes, reaching up above his head. It looked like…a maze.

"Neji…you don't think…these…new bushes….are real, right?" Ten Ten still hadn't let up her fighting posture.

The Hyuuga hesitated before answering. "…I'm not sure, but I think it's a fake…"

Then, he began to walk in the direction of the bushes. He touched it. The feel, the smell, _everything _about the bushes gave the impression that it was real. The prodigy was not fooled. Neji looked around again. The tall bushes surrounded them in every direction, except in one little opening at the west side. Neji headed towards it. Ten Ten followed.

Going through the bush opening, the Hyuuga could see another pathway of nothing but green bushes. It was indeed a maze.

"Ten Ten, I think we're caught in a trap…none of this is real, but we'll wander in this maze forever if we don't force our way out."

Ten Ten nodded. "Then, I'll try to force my way out."

The girl got out her kunai and attempted to cut through the bushes. It didn't work. It was as if the bushes were protected by some invisible force. Ten Ten sighed and put the kunai back in her pocket.

"It's as if the bushes are as hard as rock…" then, Ten Ten's eyes lit up. "Neji, use your byakugan. That way, we can see the opening to the maze…"

"Already did. That was the first thing I did. Didn't work….as good as my eyes are, it still has limits as to how far it can see. All I can see is endless rows of bushes no matter where I look…I couldn't find an opening," Neji stated, as if that was a fact of life.

Ten Ten's furrowed her brows.

_'Neji can't use his byakugan…this is bad. Very, very bad.' _

"I'll try climbing _over _the bushes then….maybe we can see the way out," she said.

Neji nodded lightly. Ten Ten crouched herself down to jump, then sprang herself up. Moments later, her head hit on an invisible wall and she fell down. It was _very _painful to forcefully hit one's head with a wall.

"O-Owwwwwww!" Ten Ten cried out as tears unintentionally sprang to her eyes.

Neji slowly crouched down beside her. "…Don't cry. It doesn't hurt that much."

Ten Ten gave him a fierce look.

"How do _you _know how much it hurts, huh? Try jumping up there and bumping your head yourself!" there were still remains of accidental tears in her eyes.

Neji smirked.

Ten Ten couldn't resist glaring. She _rarely _gave the Hyuuga looks that meant anything but _nice. _But a bump was starting to form on her head, and she could _swear_ that it hurt like hell. Then, she realized that she was crying.

"Don't laugh at me!" she attempted to defend herself. "It really hurt!"

"Yes, Ten Ten, I believe you," he stood up, a trace of a smile still on his face.

_'Grrr…he totally DOESN'T believe me.'_

She didn't get up. She just sat there, staring up stubbornly up at her teammate. The Hyuuga pretended to ignore the glares and just walked back and forth, trying to think of ways to get out of the maze. When Ten Ten saw that he didn't even _care _about her, she stood up huffily.

_'Fine, Neji! Be that way…what was that you said to me the night in Aunt Midori's bedroom, huh? GOSH, guys! Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, all lies…'_

Ten Ten didn't realize that she'd been muttering her thoughts under her breath. Unfortunately for her, not only did he have excellent eyesight, the Hyuuga also had an _excellent _sense of hearing. Neji turned around and gave her a strange look.

"What?" Ten Ten asked, confused.

"What's 'lies, lies, lies..' huh?" he asked.

She frowned. "…Never mind…" and turned around to look the other way.

Neji sighed. He was not stupid. He had no doubt that she was talking about him. He found that he _couldn't _concentrate on thinking up any plan when there was a certain girl standing there mad at him.

_'I might as well get this over with first…as my best assumption is that we'll be stuck here for some time…' _he thought.

The Hyuuga walked over to Ten Ten, whose back was still turned the other way. He tapped. She immediately turned around, her looks unrelenting.

"What?"

"Okay, I'll believe that it hurt," he told her, trying to keep his face straight.

"It did!"

"Yea, that's what I said, Ten Ten."

"It did!"

"Yes, I totally agree."

"BUT IT DID!"

"I know."

Ten Ten stopped. _'Wow. Okay.' _

"…It really hurt, you know," she added, just to confirm to herself that he wasn't really mocking her.

This was getting amusing for Neji. He cracked a smile.

"Yea, I know."

Ten Ten grinned back.

"Yea, it did! But it doesn't hurt anymore!" she suddenly gave Neji a tight hug.

Neji sweatdropped, but colored slightly.

_'T-This girl…she forgives so easily…'_

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Hinata, Lee, Kankurou, Ino, and Chouji were the second group heading closest to Sakura's location. Hinata was running in the lead, possibly because of her strongest determination to rescue her friends. The group was on their way across a muddy swamp.

Suddenly, Chouji, who was behind all the others, felt something at his foot. When he looked down, he realized in horror that…the water was formed in a shape of a hand! Moreover, that hand was pulling him down! Before he could even let out a shout of protest, Chouji was a long way down under the swamp.

A soft sound of a splash resounded among the sound of the shinobi's running feet. Kankurou was not a shinobi from the revered Sand country for nothing. He immediately heard it.

"Hey, everyone! Stop right there!" the puppeteer shouted.

The group obeyed, even though Hinata looked like she was really desperate to go on.

"…I heard it too, Kankurou," Lee said, his eyes darting all around him.

"What was it?" asked Ino, who hadn't heard the little splash.

Hinata also looked confused. She hadn't heard the sound, perhaps because of her worry for the hostages.

"…Shhh!" Kankurou shushed them, trying his hardest to locate the small but significant sound.

Then, Ino's eyes widened out of realization.

"W-Where's _Chouji!_" she cried out.

Kankurou did not look surprised, for he had already realized that the guy was missing.

"…We'll find him soon, Ino-chan," Lee told the blonde grimly.

"T-This…is b-bad…" Hinata whispered hoarsely to no one but herself.

The Hyuuga heir felt her anger rising again.

_'They dare to capture Naruto, Temari, and Sakura…and now, Chouji!' _she thought angrily.

Then, unexpectedly, the four all felt something tugging at their foot. They all looked down and felt what Chouji had just moments earlier. The four where all rapidly sinking, and there was nothing they could do about it.

"Ugh! This is a trap!" Kankurou said, highly displeased.

The puppeteer knew that the sinking scene was nowhere near real…but he also knew that under the illusion of being under the swamp, he would be tortured like hell.

Hinata was the person closest to the edge of the swamp. With all of her remaining strength, she tried to grope at the ground at the swamp edge to pull her up. It succeeded only a little bit, for the Hyuuga didn't have enough strength. When she began to feel herself sinking down again, a hand pushed her at her back. Hinata looked back.

Lee's hand was on her back, attempting to help her push her way up and out of the swamp.

"L-Lee…"

The Green Beast of Konoha gave her a thumbs-up sign and winked.

"…Save the others, okay?" Lee said, and then gave her his last push.

That was all Hinata needed to be free of the water's pull. At the edge of the swamp, she turned around to thank you the Green Beast. Unfortunately, he and the others were long gone, under the swamp. She felt her eyes watering but she quickly wiped it away.

_'I-I have got to be strong!'_

The fact that she was on the ground didn't mean she was safe, though. Now, the sand on the ground was starting to form into hands and tug at her.

_'O-Oh no! I-I hate this kind of illusion!'_

It was the kind of poisonous illusion that wouldn't stop pestering you unless you got far, far away from the area.

So, Hinata ran.

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Naruto opened his eyes and observed his surroundings. He could see only gray rocks everywhere he looked. When he tried to sit up, he groaned. He was sore all over. Not to mention that he was also tied up.

"…So, you're awake now?"

Naruto whipped his head around, only to find Temari sitting there, also tied up. He saw that she had a sharp piece of rock in her mouth, and she was rubbing it on her hand ties, to free herself.

"How long have you been awake?" he asked.

"Few minutes before you," the Sand shinobi paused and looked up at him. "…What the hell do you think you're doing? Stop sitting there and at least _try _to free yourself!"

"H-Hai!" Naruto replied, a bit startled.

He was briefly reminded of Tsunade or Sakura when they were angry. The fox boy rolled himself around, trying to look for a sharp piece of rock. Soon enough, he spotted one, and began to use it to untie his bonds. However, that wasn't really necessary at all. Temari had already freed herself and was now helping him untie his bonds.

"Wow, you're fast, Temari!" Naruto said gleefully.

"I know," she replied.

He sweatdropped.

_'…But Temari's self-confidence is better than even the old hag's or Sakura's!'_

Once she had Naruto untied, Temari immediately ran to the entrance of the cave. When she tried to walk out of the cave, her body was immediately repelled back. She fell back but immediately recovered.

"….We're in a cave, fox boy. And that damn Sound nin's put a Kin Tag outside this cave, so that we can't get out…" Temari informed Naruto, a hint of a menace in her voice. "…_And _that nin's also taken my fan."

"Then, since we can't get out, let's blow open a hole in this cave and escape!" Naruto said was determination.

"Don't try. It won't work," was Temari's reply.

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Sakura had stopped struggling. It was useless to try to free herself now. The pink-haired girl had figured by now that the only weapon she had with her was her mouth. So, she had tried her best to annoy the Sound nin beside her by asking loads, loads, and _loads _of questions.

"…Hey, Emiko, what made you decide to become Orochimaru's servant?" Sakura asked.

"That's none of your business."

"Okaaaaay….then, Emiko, what dye did you use to make your hair blue?"

Emiko sighed. She was _really _getting tired of this girl.

"Then what _dye _did you use to make your hair _pink?_" the blue-haired sound-nin retorted.

Sakura pretended not to be offended. If there was anything she could pride herself in, it was her ability to make other people annoyed. After all, she _did _have lots of experience doing that with Sasuke.

"Oh, so it's natural, right, Emiko? Then…how about…hm….what's your goal in life?"

Emiko _so _could not stand this girl any longer.

"Arghhh!" the blue-haired Sound nin stood up, prepared to slap the girl.

"Stop right there, unless you want to die," came a voice from behind.

Emiko stopped. She watched as Sakura's eyes turned wide to the person that was behind her. So, Emiko whirled around.

_'Ahh…so it's the Uchiha…'_

Then, Emiko heard something in the air. She looked up. There, on a pillar of sand, sat Kiba the dog-boy, the Nara genius, and none other than _Sabaku no Gaara. _

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**Joyce: **Hey, people! Thanks for your reviews! Yea, and I apologize if I didn't have enough 'romance stuff' in these last chapters…:D….Right now, I don't know why, but I've not been feeling very romancie lately, you know what I mean? Lol, yea, but I will really, really try to put myself in that 'romantic mood' again…:S Might be real hard, but I will try, because I know a lot of you are waiting for it:D …Normally, I'm not a very…what do you say…a 'romantic' person or overly emotional person….:S Gosh, once, my BEST friend even said I was 'heartless' :S. Lol, needless to say, I was shocked. Oh, well. She's also said I'm impolite, lazy, violent, immature, impatient, etc, etc etc…What _kind _of best friend is _that? _Oh, well…She' my best friend all the same…:P..Gosh I'm ranting _again. _Are you guys bored? Hope not. :D Yea, but despite all my faults according to my friend, I will try my best to be nice in my writings:D Yea, and REVIEWS! ;) (Oh, yea, I'm too lazy to answer reviews this time, okay? Don't be mad. :D)

**_For people still confused about the pairings:_** NarutoXHinata. SasukeXSakura. NejiXTenTen. ShikamaruXTemari. The rest are…probably single. Yea, that's my guess, since there's nobody to pair them up with anyway. Unless there's a huge amount of people wanting otherwise? Lol :) Ya. :D

---

….Okay. I change my mind. I _will _answer some reviews. Why? Because after writing that last part up there, I read reviews, and it apparently erased my laziness…but I'm too lazy to erase the note that I just wrote so here…:') …Lol, _almost _made me a more emotional person all of a sudden. _Sigh. _So, yea…This is dedicated to reviewers:)

**_To senx: _**Yea, read your fic! ;) Thanks for mentioning my name:D YAY!

**_To moonlightpath:_** Thank you! I'm glad you liked my butterfly idea:D

**_To Frozen-angel:_** Lol, yea, I wonder what Gaara will be like when he sleds…I'm glad you liked Jiro:) Lol, my sister liked him so much too..so I drew him for her…pic's on my deviantArt gallery if you wanna checkit out sometime ;)

**_To kLmkuMi:_** Wow. That's all I can say! I'm _honored _that I'm the second fic you're placing a review on! YAY! And yes, your review makes perfect sense to me. ;)

**_To Tokyobabe2040:_** Whoa! I'm so touched that you like my story enough to even _print _it out and read it! Thank you, thank you, thank you:D

**_To xXxReixXx:_** Lol, funny scenario with Gaara! Thanks for review:D

**_To SociopathLover:_** OMG! HAHAHAHA, your review is so funny! (In a good way). Hahaha, yea Sasuke chasing butterflies was funny…and GaaKiba! (rolls on floor laughing) hahahaha! I didn't even think of that:D Thanks for review:D

**_To lunarangel:_** Yay! I'm glad you liked the part with Shikamaru hitting Kiba and Kiba trying to get Gaara interesting in sledding:D

….ya, that's all the review answers I'm doing for this chapter:D


	20. Unfair Play

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

_**Chapter XX: Unfair Play**_

All the color in Emiko's faced was drained.

_'No, not Gaara. Anyone but Sabaku no Gaara.'_

"Tell us where you kept the hostages!" the voice startled the Sound nin out of her thoughts.

She looked up at the person who had just shouted that to her. It was the Nara genius. Emiko thought he looked more nervous than usual.

_'What should I do? I really don't want to fight Gaara…'_

"Hey, idiot. What's taking you so long to just answer us?" Sasuke snarled at her.

Gaara lowered the Sand transporter until both he, Shikamaru, and Kiba were standing on the ground.

"Give up, Sound nin," Gaara told Emiko in a voice that was either hateful or loving.

"I-I…NO!" Emiko glared at him, trying to conceal her fear of him.

"Heh. Dumb girl. You're as stubborn as your brother! We already captured him and had him tied up, you know!" Kiba said, then turned to Gaara. "Go on, Gaara! Tell her what you're made of!"

The redhead didn't need any telling twice. Already, he was walking slowly, step by step, towards Emiko. He had no guards up, no tension in his body. It was as if he was casually walking to pick some flowers. Of course, the Sand shinobi had no need to put up his guard. His sand was already the perfect barrier.

However, Emiko couldn't be any more nervous. No one could really blame her. This is _Sabaku no Gaara _we're talking about. All of her attempts to conceal her fear were in vain. Gaara could see through all of this. He had seen enough people being afraid of him. He _knew _she was afraid of him.

Gaara walked closer, closer…closer to Emiko until he was only one arm-length away from her. Emiko's knees were literally shaking. Sakura, who was tied to the tree behind Emiko, watched in awe at the redhead. The pink-haired girl thought she now knew what made Gaara so scary sometimes.

"W-What do you want!" the fear was in Emiko's voice.

"….You know what I want, Sound nin," was Gaara's dry reply.

"Tell us or die," Sasuke added in, even icier than Gaara.

Emiko looked around. There was a practically _legendary _redhead standing in front of her, an Uchiha at the west side, a Nara on her right…and to top it all off, a dog-boy backing them up. This was bad. _Very _bad.

The blue-haired Sound nin knew that even if there was no one there with her except Gaara, she would still lose. Gaara alone was too much. But this, _this _was Gaara _plus _a bunch of other fairly good people. Emiko gulped and forced herself to look into Gaara's eyes.

_'I am not going down without a fight!' _She thought.

"F-Fine. I don't want to die now…I give up," Emiko told the redhead quietly.

There was only a hint of a smirk on Gaara's face. Emiko now slowly stepped backwards slowly.

"I…will untie Sakura for you now. Don't kill me, o-okay, Sabaku no Gaara?" she eyed him for a brief moment and turned around to untie Sakura.

Once she had Sakura untied, she helped the pink-haired girl up.

"Thank you-"started Sakura, but she couldn't even finish her sentence.

All of a sudden, Sakura felt herself falling, _falling…falling_.

"Ahhhhhhh!" she cried out, frightened.

Sakura saw the cliff above her getting smaller and smaller as she fell farther down.

"Y-You! That's unfair play!" Kiba shouted at the dishonest Sound nin.

"Heh. There's no 'fair play' in this world…" was Emiko's reply.

Indeed, Emiko had done unfair play. She had untied Sakura, then purposely pushed the girl down the cliff that was behind the tree. Sasuke's Sharingan activated immediately. He was _angry._ In the blink of an eye, his face was only an inch away from Emiko's.

It made the Sound nin shudder with fear…those scary red eyes.

_'T-This…This is even scarier than Gaara…' _Emiko thought.

"If Sakura is hurt, you are dead…" the Uchiha spat into her face, and then swiftly followed down after Sakura.

"Gaara, Kiba, let's tie this girl up before she makes any more trouble," Shikamaru was the first to come to his senses after the Sound nin's unexpected actions.

Kiba nodded.

"Gaara, could you secure her legs and arms with sand for a moment?" Kiba told the redhead.

The Sand shinobi did as he was told, his fearsome eyes never leaving her. Any one could've thought that Emiko would be scared to death by now, but then, the blue-haired girl started laughing. She laughed like a maniac, and didn't stop.

"What are you laughing about!" the Nara demanded.

Emiko was laughing so hard that a single stray teardrop had formed in the corner of her right eye. She wiped it away, and then giggled a bit more.

"Hahahaha…you know, I was always a sore loser…ever since I was little…" she told them.

"…What the fuck? What does _this _have to do with where the other hostages are?" Kiba shouted at her.

"Hahahahaha! That…" she giggled. "…Is what I'm about to tell you. You'll know soon enough where the other hostages are…by the sound of the bomb!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "_What? _What the hell do you mean, you fucking Sound nin!"

The Nara was apparently very, _very _worried about his hostages, especially…

The sand bonds on Emiko's arms and legs tightened. It _hurt_.

"Tell us," Gaara told her in a merciless voice.

Emiko stopped giggling, but just smiled at Gaara sweetly, like she had already lost her mind.

"…Your sand…it really _is _the most wonderful type of defense after all…" she said.

The sand tightened even more.

"Tell me now," Gaara hissed, his eyes dark.

"…Fine…." She smiled again. "….While you guys were in the confusion of my 'unfair play'…I pressed the bomb activation button in my pocket….it's going to activate the bomb that I've installed near the hostages' location….and…." Emiko paused, her eyes widening for a dramatic effect. "…BOOM! My bomb's gonna go off in five minutes…"

The blue-haired girl started laughing again. Shikamaru had gone white. He, as a genius, knew that to reach the actual location of the hostages in due time was almost impossible. He only had to hurry, and now. It seems that Gaara had already read the Nara's mind.

"Tell me the location of the hostages," Sabaku no Gaara used his fearful image to its fullest extent on the Sound nin.

"….Don't worry, guys, they will be long dead before you even reach them…I installed the bomb there in case that this would happen…never thought I'd actually use it…"

"Just tell me!" the Nara shouted impatiently.

"…Hahahaha worried, aren't you? Well, it's right down that path to your right…about two kilometers from here in a cave--"

"--Shut up, that's all I need to know!" Shikamaru cut her off, then quickly formulated a plan in his mind. "Gaara! I need you to transport me with your sand to the cave now, because there's no way I can cover 2 kilometers in 5 minutes! Kiba, you stay here and watch the Sound nin!"

Gaara nodded and quickly knocked Emiko unconscious with his sand. Kiba hurried over and tied up her arms and legs. In mere seconds, the Nara was riding on Gaara's sand transporter in its fastest speed across the dawning sky.

"Ahh…Man! I'm jealous of that Nara! He gets to ride on that speeding Sand transporter…." whispered Kiba, as he looked up at the sand transporter getting smaller and smaller.

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"…Argh! Sakura groaned.

She had tried to get a grip of a rock or something, but she couldn't. She had fallen too far away from the rock. The fact that she didn't have any weapons with her didn't help. Emiko had stripped her of all the weapons she had. Sakura fearfully took another look downwards, and saw a rushing stream with a huge cascading waterfall at the side.

_'Ohh, no…I don't want to die now! I'm still young…' _It wasn't that Sakura was afraid of heights. She wasn't. But anyone would be scared if they're falling freely through air.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, unable to take in any more sight of the height below her.

"I-I guess I'll make my last dying wish now…" she said aloud to herself. "…I wish for everyone to be safe and sound, for all the people at home to live happily ever after, and for Sasuke-kun not to forget me when I die…"

Now that Sakura really thought of it, it made her sad. Tears accidentally sprung to her squeezed-shut eyes. Then, she felt an arm encircle around her waist. Sakura immediately opened her eyes, to find the person she had previously thought of in her 'dying wish'.

Sakura had stopped falling, now that Sasuke had grabbed onto her waist. They were both hanging upside down. Sakura could see that Sasuke had tied a rope to his own waist, with the other end firmly secured on a kunai that was stuck on the rock ledge above.

The two stared at each other upside-down.

"Sakura, your last dying wish was stupid."

The pink-haired girl's eyes widened in protest. She had _wished _for him just not to forget her and _this _was how he returned her favor!

"…What! It was not! And it's also none of your business!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "…None of my business, huh. My name was mentioned in there, so I would assume that it's my business."

"W-Whatever…" replied Sakura, reddening and trying to sound like she didn't care.

Besides, she couldn't find a clever comeback. Then, she sighed. No use getting so worked up over him now. They were hanging _upside-down _with only a single rope as their support…and if they fell down, it would be into the midst of the ever-running stream below.

"Yea, well then…thanks, anyways," Sakura told him. "But we better get out of here soon."

Sakura could feel all the blood in her body rushing down to her head. She took a look at Sasuke. His face was also red, because of all the blood.

"Heh. Good thinking for _once, _Sakura," he smirked.

Sakura held back her retort. She was too tired to get into any argument with him _now_.

"How, then?" she asked.

"Like this…" he clutched tighter onto her and began to rock his body back and forth, so that the rope swung more and more.

After a while of confusion, Sakura understood what he was trying to do. He was trying to make the rope swing enough so that they would reach the rock ledge that poked out from the cliff. Sakura looked up at the Uchiha and sighed.

_'I hope it isn't wrong to stare at him like this when we're in a situation such as this…' _She thought, a small smile creeping up to her face. _'…It's ironic, I never felt so happy…'_

She hadn't even noticed that Sasuke had already reached the rock ledge and had gently placed her down on it. He also sat down on the rock ledge.

"What do you think you're staring at, Sakura?"

Sakura was startled out of her thoughts. "NO! Nothing, _obviously…_"

He smirked.

"No need to hide it, Sakura. I'm not stupid. I know I look good."

The pink-haired shinobi couldn't have turned more red.

Inner Sakura: _'Argh, his arrogance! So never-ending!'_

In reality: "W-What! Whatever…Fine, I'll admit you look _okay, _but not the best, okay?"

Sasuke, who had stood up, trying to find a way to get off of the rock ledge, now sat back down, his eyes now serious.

"Then, who's the _best, _Sakura?"

Sakura hesitated for a moment, trying to think of someone that looked better than the arrogant Uchiha in front of her.

"Hmm….?" Sasuke pressed, leaning closer to her, a hint of triumph in his voice.

It was as if he thought she couldn't find anyone better-looking than himself. Sakura was set out to prove her supposed-crush wrong.

"G-Gaara!" Sakura burst out the first guy name that popped into her head.

The pink-haired girl didn't know why she burst out that name. Maybe it was because she remember how frightening and intimidating Gaara looked when talking to Emiko earlier.

The Uchiha literally _froze _for a tenth of a second. He quickly recovered.

"…You're not serious, Sakura," he said, his face void of emotion.

"Y-Yea! I _am _serious!"

Inner Sakura: "Hell yea! I broke his arrogance! Hell yea! I broke his pride!"

For a brief moment, Sakura thought she could spot something different in Sasuke's eyes…was it jealousy? Or something else? But she didn't have time to think over it, for the emotion was gone a moment later. He grabbed her arm and roughly forced her to stand up.

"Sakura, do you recall what I told you about you and other guys?"

**F L A S H B A C K **

_"So, I say you are never allowed to flirt or do anything with any other guy except me," He said with an unemotional face._

_He seemed to think that it was completely normal for him to say this. The idea that maybe he was being too possessive never entered his head. Normally, as a girl, Sakura felt rebellious. _

_"…Oh, yea? So what if I like you! What if I flirt with EVERY OTHER GUY, huh?" she gave him a fierce look, her cheeks turning into a deeper crimson. _

_No visible emotion showed on his face. _

_"Then, Sakura. I'm going to do this to you," he said, his eyes merciless._

_He tilted his head down closer to her and roughly crushed his lips down onto hers. She had no time to protest. _

**F LA S H B A C K**

"Well, yea…" Sakura blushed a little, remembering the scene. "Don't tell me...you're going to become overly paranoid about this stuff again?"

He smirked again.

_'What's it with him and smirks!' _she thought.

"…What if I am?" he said.

"…"

"…Rule number two, Sakura. Never say I'm _second _in looks to _anyone_…"

"H-Hey! But-" Sakura started.

Sasuke shushed her, then continued.

"...'Cause chances are, it won't be true. And…"

"…And?"

"You are _mine, _get that?" he proceeded to climb up from the rock ledge.

Sakura stood there in awe for a while, then began climbing up after the Uchiha.

"…_Fine, _then, you overly-paranoid boyfriend…" the pink-haired shinobi whispered to herself.

Inside, Inner Sakura couldn't help but admit that she was secretly glad.

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**Joyce:** And no, this is in no way GaaraXSakura:) In case any of you got confused:D...Sakura just said the first name that came to her mind:D No significant meaning to it:D...Here's my answer to some of your reviews…:)

**_To lunarangel: _**Glad you liked the sledding part:D Lol, I liked it too!

**_To The8thSin:_** Thanks for your review:) As for your question as to where Jiro is…well Kiba had him tied up somewhere where he can't escape! XD

**_To HarunoSakura's Tears:_** Wow, I'm so, so glad you think my fanfic is the best you have ever read! XD

**_To Tokyobabe2040:_** Lol…Gaara you panda bear! XD That's sweet:D Glad you liked my style of writing:D

**_To Shodaime Ramenkage:_** Lol, glad you liked my traps! XD It was fun thinking them up.

**_To TheGurlWithNoName:_** Lol, it _does _seem like the plot already exceeded 7 days, didn't it? Actually, I already have the whole story roughly planned out and already carefully counted the days:D If you're wondering, this story is currently on it's 6th day, about like…hmm…let's say, 4:00 A.M.? Lol:) Thanks for asking:D

**_To SociopathLover:_** Hello! Thanks for your review! I realize that I've been kind of cheesy:D…You're a good reader to notice that:)…So I promise that I will try _harder, harder, _and even _harder _until you will be pleased! Works ass off:D…XD…I really, really enjoyed reading your review very, very much, I really think it's helping me write better, reading all these reviews! XD…Thank you:)

**_To moonlightpath:_ **Aww, you're so sweet:D Wonders who Ten Ten reminds you of….

**_To senx2:_** OOPS! I'm really, really, really, really, really, really, really, _TRULY _sorry I spelt your name wrong:(….Hope you aren't offended or anything :)…Please, please, forgive me! Thanks for your review:D

….Whew! It took a long time answering all those reviews! Lol I got a lot more but that's all I'm going to answer for now, because I'm very busy:D


	21. Social Lessons

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XXI: Social Lessons_**

Birds cheerfully chirped outside the window. The sun was shining, and everything looked like it was going to be a perfect day. However, one person was not very cheerful. Shino pulled the covers around himself tighter and put his pillow on top of his head. He was _not_ a morning person.

_'…Stupid, stupid chirping birds…'_

For a moment, he thought of ordering his bugs to go kill those birds, but decided against it. They were just birds, after all, and Shino was not _that_ cruel-hearted. After a few moments, he was sound asleep again, even though it was already seven in the morning.

He had _no idea_ that a huge commotion was going on outside with the rest of the gang. Right now, sleeping was best.

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"Hey, Temari, are we going to die here?" Naruto asked, leaning on the wall of the cave.

Temari was pissed. She was an impatient person. Being stuck in a closed cave with an idiot was the last thing she wanted to do. In three strides, she had gone over and bopped Naruto on the head.

"Shut. Up. Maybe the others are going to come and rescue us," she told him, annoyed.

Naruto was momentarily glad that Emiko had taken Temari's fan. He was sure that if Temari still had her fan with her, he would be dead by now. Not only dead, but his corpse would also be in a hundred thousand pieces.

"Fine, fine…" and Naruto was silent for a while.

'A while', meaning five seconds.

"Temari!" the fox-boy had the nerve to speak again.

"What now!" Temari was really annoyed now.

She did _not _like her freedom to be limited to just a few meters in a cave. It was making her jumpy.

"…You know, what would happen if we die, huh? What if we starve to death in here? Oh, ramen…" Naruto paused. "…And what if…I never get to see Hinata-chan again?"

Temari was about to shout at Naruto for the first part of his statement, but stopped when she heard him say Hinata's name. The Sand shinobi was _curious. _

"…What's with you and Hinata? You like her?" Temari asked, turning to look at him.

"Ooooh, yes! I do like her!" then, he hesitated, and a little bit of a sad look came over the fox-boy's face. "…And she acts like she likes me too…but…I'm not 100 percent sure, you know? …Sometimes, I'm not so sure…And then I confessed to her one time, and she wouldn't answer…so I don't know."

Naruto sighed, and then gave Temari and weak smile. The Sand shinobi raised her eyebrows back at him.

"…And then? Did anything else happen between you and her?" she pressed.

"…Well…" here, Naruto reddened a bit. "…I guess I did make out with her once…on the night of my birthday, you know?"

And Naruto felt another bop on his head.

"H-Hey! Temari! What did you do _that _for!" he shouted defensively.

"You…" Temari had a pissed off popping vein on her forehead. "…Are the dumbest guy in the world."

"W-What! Why?"

"It's _obvious, _idiot. She likes you, and you like her back. _Gosh, _you're so slow," Temari explained as-a-matter-of-factly. "…She's a _girl, _understand that. Girls can be shy sometimes."

"Oh…" Naruto took the information in.

It seemed to cheer the fox-boy up somewhat.

"Hey, but Temari, you are in no state to lecture me about 'being dumb'," said Naruto suddenly.

"What!" Temari looked prepared to give the fox-boy another bop on the head. "…What makes you say that, idiot?"

Naruto grinned teasingly. "Ehehehehehehe…."

"What the _heck _are you laughing about, idiot!" Temari demanded.

Naruto took a few steps back, taking extra precautions against her bopping him on the head again.

"You and Shikamaru…" Naruto said in a _very _teasing voice. "Ohohohohohoho.."

Temari's eyes grew wide. The cave was dark, but Naruto could spot her cheeks going pink. Then, she went over and picked up his shirt collar, like a bully would.

"WHAT about me and the Nara," she gave Naruto a frightening death glare.

Naruto, however brave he may be in front of enemies, simply could not find the courage to finish his sentence.

"Eh…hehehehe, nothing, Temari-chan! Nothing between you and Shikamaru!" the fox-boy said, giving her a cheesy smile.

"That's right! There is _nothing _between me and that stupid Nara!" Temari released her grip from his shirt collar, making him fall down to the ground.

_'Ohohohohoho…I hit a nerve, didn't I,' _Naruto was satisfied.

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Hinata rushed through the trees as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't even care if the branches tore at her favorite jacket, or cut her skin. She had gone a long ways from where her friends had been buried in the swamp…and now, she didn't know where to go next. No one had told her any directions. There was, obviously, a very slim chance of her finding the right spot where Emiko was.

After about five more minutes, the Hyuuga heir came to a clearing…and there was a cave in the middle of it. Her eyes grew wide. From far away, she could see two people sitting in the cave, both with blonde hair.

_'T-There's no mistake about it…t-that's Naruto-kun and Temari-chan! …I can't believe I got lucky!' _

Hinata quickly ran over to the cave, but stopped midway when she heard a commotion in the sky. She looked up. It was Gaara and Shikamaru on the sand transporter!

"H-Here, Shikamaru! Gaara! Naruto and Temari are down here!" Hinata called up.

In a few moments, Gaara had already lowered his sand transporter to the ground.

"Where, Hinata!" Shikamaru asked her hurriedly. "Where did you say they were?"

Hinata pointed towards the cave and began running towards it again. Shikamaru followed suit.

"Hinata, we've got to hurry and get them out of there!" the Nara genius shouted to her while running.

"W-Why?" there was a hint of worry in Hinata's voice.

"The Sound nin's put a bomb in that cave! We've got approximately 20 seconds before it explodes!"

Hinata went pale and ran even faster.

_'I won't let you die, Naruto! Not until I tell you what's on my mind!'_

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Naruto took another look out at the entrance of the cave. He had expected to find no one there, just like every other time. To his ultimate surprise, he found his Hinata-chan and Shikamaru running towards the cave, and Gaara standing in the background.

"Hey! Hey! HI!" the blonde stood up and waved like crazy.

Temari turned around to see what Naruto was waving at. When she saw the people running towards the cave, she silently breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Heh. So they've come for me at last…" she commented.

Then, she heard a mechanical voice somewhere say _'Ten'. _Or was it just her ears gone bad?

_Nine._

Now, Temari was _positive _that she's heard it. She whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice. She saw a beeping red light at the corner of the cave.

_Eight._

Temari's eyes widened. She _knew _what that was. A bomb. A deadly, deadly bomb.

_Seven. _

Hinata had already reached the cave, and she tried to step into the entrance. She was sprung back. She didn't know there was a Kin Tag on the cave, preventing her to go in any further.

"No, Hinata! Peel off that Kin Tag!" shouted Shikamaru to her. "I'll peel off this one!"

_Six._

They peeled off the tags.

_Five._

Temari ran out of the cave.

_Four._

Naruto was still in the cave.

"Hey, hi, Hinata-chan! Why does everyone look so nervous! I'm not dead or anything!"

_Three._

"N-Naruto-kun! Hurry! There's a bomb in the cave! Come, come!" Hinata shouted to the fox-boy desperately.

_Two._

Naruto _finally_ got the message and everyone ran to Gaara's sand transporter.

_One._

Everyone was on the Gaara's sand transporter as it shot up into the sky.

_BOOM!_

The heat from the bomb rose up, almost reaching the sand transporter, but didn't. Gaara made the sand transporter go up even higher. Gaara turned around to everyone.

"…Everyone is fine, I assume," the redhead commented.

"Yea! I'm so very fine!" Naruto grinned at him. "…And your sand is _super cool!_"

Gaara looked mildly pleased at the compliment. Or, maybe a bit more than _'mildly pleased'. _

"Heh, what took you so long, _genius?_" Temari turned to the Nara with a huffy voice.

To her surprise, Shikamaru hugged her.

"Hey, woman…I'm really sorry for not being with you that night...It's my fault you got captured…" he told her.

_Never _had the Nara sounded so emotional. It was a _big, big _change from his usual lazy drawl.

_'So this…is what love is called…' _thought Gaara silently, carefully observing the two.

Shikamaru and Temari didn't even notice that the redhead was watching. Temari reddened at the Nara.

"..Y-Yea! It's totally your fault!" Temari covered up her embarrassment with a tough-girl voice. "…Make up for it!"

Shikamaru released her from the hug and looked at her. He gave her a casual smile now.

"…Yea, I guess I gotta make up for it, eh, woman?" the Nara genius's lazy drawl was back.

"Yea, you have to," Temari looked back at him triumphantly.

The Nara looked at her lazily, a mischievous grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

"…First, though, woman, let me ask you something…" his grin grew wider. "…It isn't like you to get captured this easily. Was there something…that distracted you?"

Temari grew even redder and gave him a _very _fierce look. She paused for a moment, because she wasn't sure how to answer. Temari had a _lot _of pride in herself. She didn't want to admit that she got captured because she was distracted.

_'…But if I say that I wasn't distracted…My reputation will go even lower…'cause the Nara's gonna think I was just simply not as good as that Sound nin!' _Temari thought, making up her mind.

"…Look, Shikamaru, _yea, _I was distracted. So what?" Temari's voice was still in tough-girl mode.

"…Care to tell me what made you so distracted?" he smiled lazily at her.

His lazy looks simply drove her _crazy. _

"It's none of your business, Nara…" Temari couldn't even stop her cheeks from getting red.

Gaara looked from Shikamaru to Temari, and from Temari to Shikamaru. This was a _very _interesting social lesson for him.

_'So…when people are in love…they go red in the face…' _This was the redhead's hypothesis of 'love'.

Shikamaru didn't think to end there. It was rare, making Temari embarrassed. He didn't want to stop _now_.

"…Let me guess, woman…" he drawled. "…Was it because…you were jealous? Seeing me with that Sound nin Emiko?"

"WHAT!" Temari glared at him. "….WHY would I be _jealous, _huh?"

Shikamaru then sighed lazily.

"…Hey, woman, I'm too lazy to pretend anymore, okay?" he casually scratched the back of his head. "…And you might as well drop the act now, woman…since yea, I like you…"

Temari couldn't think of anything to say to this. She just blushed.

"Aa…How troublesome…" there goes the Nara's famous quote, as he bent down and gave Temari a light, lazy kiss on the lips.

The world froze for Temari. Actually, the world literally _froze _for everyone on the sand transporter. Shikamaru and Temari sprang apart about five meters when they realized _everyone _was staring at them. Staring most intently at them was Sabaku no Gaara.

"G-Gaara…did you see that?" Temari asked her brother very, _very _wearily.

The redhead nodded. Temari's face paled. All her life, she'd tried to be a good big sister and shielded Gaara's mind from witnessing…._inappropriate_ activities like this… And now…she was the one who was corrupting his mind!

"Uhh…Gaara….please _forget _what you just saw…" Temari went over to Gaara. "…It's much, _much _too young for you to understand…"

"Sister, that's _love, _right?" Gaara asked, nothing shown on his face.

Temari and Shikamaru went red. Hinata blushed at the word. Naruto tried (very, _very_ unsuccessfully) to suppress his loud laughter.

"Uhh…Uhhh…Uhhh…" the big sister didn't know how to answer.

The Nara couldn't _stand _any more of this humiliation. He walked over to where Temari and Gaara were, and put his arm around Temari.

"Yea, that's love, Gaara. Your sister and me are an item," Shikamaru tried to sound as casual as he could, even though he couldn't stop his reddening face.

Temari couldn't find her voice to say anything at all. Gaara simply nodded.

"I understand…" the redhead finally spoke. "…Then you have to take good care of my sister."

_'Wow. How straight to the point,' _Naruto thought, watching the 'in-laws' scene.

"Yea, of course…" the Nara replied with another lazy sigh and sat down.

Temari was secretly touched that her red-headed brother cared for her this much.

"…One more thing, Nara…" the redhead said.

"Hmm?" Shikamaru looked up at the Sand shinobi.

"…I'm not sure Kankurou will be very pleased."

Shikamaru paled. Temari paled. The Nara slapped his hand of his forehead."…Ugh…how troublesome….I finally got one of your brothers to approve of me…and then there's another one…"

Temari couldn't help but giggle.

"..But you'll do it for me, right?" Temari grinned at him mischievously.

"Yea, yea…I guess I will…" was the Nara's lazy reply.

By this time, Naruto couldn't hold back his laughter any longer.

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

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Shino _finally _was in the mood to wake up. He looked at the clock. It read 9:30 A.M. The bug-guy got up, stretched, and yawned. Shino took a look around the room, and found that both Neji and Lee were gone from their beds.

_'Whatever…the early birds don't always gets the worms…' _he thought, then walked in the bathroom to take a shower.

**Joyce: **Hope you like this one and review! XD….And yea, ladies, Gaara _is _hot…in answer to most of the people's reviews! Hahahahaha…Well, I guess I'm too lazy to answer reviews for this time! XD …But please review:D


	22. Winning Appreciation

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XXII: Winning Appreciation_**

"Ahhh…" Lee groaned and sat up. He looked around for a moment, confused at finding Kankurou, Ino, and Chouji lying all around him, still unconscious.

_'Oh, that's right…the swamp illusion…a hand grabbed us down…we were buried…I pushed Hinata out of here so she could escape…' _his mind briefly recalled what had happened. _'…But why is the swamp illusion gone now? …That must mean…somebody beat the Sound nin?'_

Lee heard a shuffling noise behind him and turned to find that it was Kankurou, waking up from his unconsciousness.

"…You okay, Kankurou?" the Green Beast of Konoha asked.

The puppeteer nodded. "…So, somebody's already beat up that Sound nin, eh?"

"Yea…."

By this time, Ino and Chouji had already awakened.

"That was the _worst _illusion in the _world!_" those were practically the first words that came out of Ino's mouth. "...Oh, horrifying! I am going to give that Sound nin a _very good _beating up when we find her!"

"…Ugh, yea," Chouji agreed. "I'd thought I'd die."

Then, out of the blue, they saw Gaara's sand transporter zooming across the sky. But that was not what made everyone stare in awe. It was what was _on _the sand that made everyone stare.

"…I-Is that…the Nara…" Kankurou's voice held a very dangerous edge to it. "…Kissing…my sister?"

Chouji, being Shikamaru's friend, did not want to see the genius being beat to a pulp by a blood-crazy puppeteer.

"Hey! No, Kankurou! I'm sure that was like, a trick of the light or something!" Chouji tried to make excuses for his friend. "Come on, man, stop imagining things!"

Secretly, however, Ino and Lee thought the couple was cute. But, they dared not say anything in front of the puppeteer _now_. Kankurou now stood up and began running like _crazy _after his brother's sand transporter. Chouji, Ino and Lee followed.

"Hey, wait up!" Lee called.

Apparently, Kankurou didn't even hear.

_'…When I get a hold of that Nara…he's dead.'_

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Neji pulled her closer and kissed her even harder. Ten Ten kissed him back just as passionately, her hands in his silky black hair. Yes, somehow, the couple had managed to turn their trapped time in the maze into a hot make-out session. Let's just say that if Kakashi had seen the Hyuuga being this hot to a girl, he would've been very, very proud. The thing is, Neji didn't even need an "Icha Icha Paradise". And, this time, Neji wasn't even drunk.

Even Ten Ten had no idea how it led up to this. One moment, the two were just sitting in the maze, nothing to do, since they were both trapped…and the next moment…

_'…The next moment…we were talking…and then it got further…and further…' _Ten Ten thought, herself being pinned against one of the bushes in the maze as Neji kissed her even more.

Somehow, she didn't mind. It didn't seem awkward, even if it was so sudden. To both of them, it was comfortable, like something that's always been with you ever since you were born…something _familiar_.

Then, without any warning, the bushy walls of the maze around them simply disappeared into thin air. Ten Ten, who was leaning on a wall, fell, but Neji cushioned her fall. The Hyuuga didn't even take notice that they were _free _from the maze. He proceeded to give Ten Ten another kiss. However, this time, Ten Ten pulled away.

"…Neji…the maze…the poison has worn off…it's gone…" she said.

Maybe there was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Neji didn't seem to care. He just smirked. "…That doesn't really stop what I'm doing here, Ten Ten…"

She blushed. "…H-Hey, Neji! We don't have time for this…we have to save those—"

A sand transporter zoomed over both of them in the sky. With his Byakugan, Neji could spot that Naruto and Temari were on it, safe and sound.

"…They're _already _saved, Ten Ten," although his face was still as emotionless as ever, Ten Ten could spot a hint of a smirk on it. "…I'll continue what I'm doing now, okay?"

Ten Ten wondered what was the point in asking. She didn't even have the chance to answer before he bent down and perfectly demonstrated to her the most sophisticated technique of all in "Icha Icha Paradise".

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"Hey, hey, look, Hinata, look down there!" Naruto poked his head down and pointed from the edge of Gaara's sand transporter.

Hinata lay down beside the fox-boy and poked her head down in the same position.

"W-What is it, Naruto-kun?"

"There, there! Hey, everyone, come look!" Naruto practically shouted.

Shikamaru, Temari, and _even_ Gaara ran to see. Temari's eyes widened.

"Isn't that…your cousin, Hinata!" Temari said in shock.

"Yea, that sure is Neji!" said Naruto excitedly. "…And _making-out _with Ten Ten, no less!"

"O-Oh…M-My…G-God…"even the polite Hinata could not resist swearing. "…M-My cousin…"

Gaara now slowed down the sand transporter until it stopped in a position above the sky where everyone could see the couple clearly. Everyone was silent for a while, carefully watching the Hyuuga male do things that no one had seen him do before. The one observing most intently at the couple was, of course, Gaara. The redhead had now made it his _goal_ to learn the most social skills he could.

"…So, sister…those two are in love, yes? …Just like you and Shikamaru..." Gaara commented, taking note of how Neji liked to kiss Ten Ten very roughly on the lips.

Temari, who had forgotten that Gaara was watching, now quickly turned to him with an embarrassed look on her face.

"G-Gaara! Stop watching! You're too young!" Temari said, a bit worried.

"It's okay, sister…" Gaara turned his full attention back to the make-out session down below. "I already saw you and the Nara do it…Besides, you said I need to learn more social skills."

_'Ugh…brother, not THIS kind of social skills!' _Sabaku no Temari thought, but kept quiet.

She knew that Gaara wouldn't listen to her anyway, so she went back to observing Neji and Ten Ten.

Naruto gave Gaara a hearty pat on the back.

"Yea, man! You _gotta _learn this kind of social skill most of all!" the fox-boy said enthusiastically.

Sabaku no Gaara took in every word that Naruto said, and every movement that the Hyuuga made on Ten Ten. The redhead nodded.

_'That…damn…Naruto!' _Temari looked like she was about to kill Naruto.

Shikamaru noticed this and decided to turn her attention to something else, so she wouldn't think of murdering Naruto.

"Hey, Temari, look…did you see that? Ten Ten just pulled away from Neji!" Shikamaru tapped Temari on the shoulder and pointed it out to her.

"What! Where!" Temari immediately forgot all about her intent to kill Naruto and continued observing the couple.

Sure enough, it really did look like Ten Ten had just pulled away…and Neji had pinned her back down…and continued to make out! Naruto let out an exasperated gasp.

"Whoa! Neji's a naughty boy!" the fox-boy commented cheerfully and loudly.

"…Hey, woman. We should try out that trick sometime…" Shikamaru teased Temari lazily.

Temari elbowed the Nara in the stomach.

"Shut up!" she said, her cheeks flaming.

"Hey, everyone, look at this! It looks like Kankurou is running to us!" Naruto said suddenly.

Everyone stopped and looked below. Sure enough, the puppeteer was running as fast as his legs could carry him towards the sand transporter in the sky. Following him were Ino, Lee, and Chouji. The group ran past where Neji and Ten Ten were making out without even noticing. Ten Ten screamed when she saw the group of people running past her. Neji's faced reddened like there was no tomorrow.

In no time, Kankurou, Ino, Lee, and Chouji were just below the sand transporter.

"Hey, Gaara! Lower that sand transporter right now!" Kankurou shouted up angrily to them. "…I need to give that Nara a lesson!"

Shikamaru's faced paled.

_'Ugh…how troublesome…'_

"Kankurou! Why, what's wrong?" Temari called down.

"Temari, don't _think _I didn't see that! That Nara was taking _advantage _of you! He was kissing you!" the puppeteer shot death glares up at Shikamaru.

"Hey, that was a misunderstanding, Kankurou—" Shikamaru started.

"How is _that _a misunderstanding, Nara? I saw with my own two eyes what you were doing!" It really was too late for the puppeteer to calm down. "…And if you don't come down here, Nara…I _will _call out Karasu, Kuroari, _and _Sanshouuo!"

Now _that _was a threat. Gaara didn't lower the sand transporter just yet.

"Look, Kankurou, I didn't do anything _wrong _to Temari, okay?" the Nara called down, trying to sound as agreeable as he could.

"Then what was _that _called, huh? Kissing—" Kankurou was cut off by no one other than Sabaku no Gaara.

"Hey, Kankurou, I think it's okay for them," the redhead surprisingly sided with the Nara. "…'Cause they told me, they're in love."

Everyone there turned to stare at Gaara.

_'What the heck?' _thought Ino, who was witnessing the scene. _'Didn't know Gaara would be so kind as to stop his brother…'_

Kankurou's eyes practically popped out of his head.

"W-What! Gaara? Are you _serious_?" the puppeteer asked exasperatedly.

Gaara lowered the sand transporter, so that he, Shikamaru, and Temari were face to face with Kankurou.

"Wow, this is the funniest 'in-laws' scene yet!" Naruto whispered into Hinata's ear.

"…Yea…" said the Gaara, his face straight. "…You should give them a chance."

Kankurou stared. The Nara genius tried to take advantage of this. He would never admit it, but he also desperately wanted for Temari's brothers to at least like him, since he was her boyfriend and all…

"Yea, Kankurou, you should give me a chance, I'm the first one of all of you to pass the Chuunin exam, after all," Shikamaru drawled.

"Come on, brother! And also, if he hurts me in any way, you can beat him up!" said Temari, cheerfully poking the Nara's arm a bit too hard.

"H-Hey, woman! What's that supposed to mean?"

Temari just grinned playfully back at him.

_'…And, another troublesome issue comes…first, dealing with the woman's brothers, and now, actually dealing with the woman…' _Shikamaru couldn't help thinking, while looking sheepishly down into Temari's face.

Apparently, Temari's statement worked on Kankurou.

"Fine…" the puppeteer reluctantly told Shikamaru. "…If you're gonna be Temari's boyfriend, you have to take care of her _no matter what, _you understand?...And if you don't behave well….in that case, let's just say Karasu, Kuroari, and Sanshouuo will have a very, _very _fun time playing with your corpse…" Kankurou finished all this with a snarl.

"Yay!" Temari cheered and then clung unto the Nara's arm. "…I'm _your _responsibility now, you understand, _genius_? ...Otherwise you'll get beat up by Gaara and Kankurou!"

A long, stunned silence followed from the Nara. Finally, he sighed with an 'I-give-up' kind of small smile of his face.

"How troublesome….but yea, I guess it's worth it…" he said.

Clapping sounds came from Ino, Chouji, and Lee's direction.

"Hey, you lazy ass, congratulations on finding a girlfriend at last!" Ino whooped.

Naruto joined in and whistled. "Whoa, Shikamaru, you're in _big _trouble!"

"…Thanks for reminding me, Naruto…." The Nara answered, his tone as lazy as ever.

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"Emiko, you know what?" Kiba continuously poked the unconscious Sound nin that he had captured with a stick. "…You're such a bitch."

Of course, Emiko didn't reply. She _couldn't _reply, since she was unconscious.

"You!" the stick poked a little bit harder on her face. "…Number one, you wasted our time here by capturing people. That's fine, I don't hold that grudge against you. Number two, you pushed Sakura down the cliff. Yea, that's fine by me too, since the Uchiha's the one saving her, not me. Number three, you just _had _to put bombs in the cave, huh? You bitch…well, even _that's _fine by me. But what's NOT fine by me is that _you made me freekin' miss riding on Gaara's super cool sand!_"

Kiba now poked Emiko in the forehead with his stick. It left a red mark on her forehead. The dog-boy was apparently _so bored _of being assigned the task to look after an unconscious person that he had to talk to himself.

"Arghhh, Emiko, you're a bitch, did I tell you that?"

Akamaru barked and licked Kiba's hand to cheer him up. Kiba rubbed his head.

"Ahh…that's all right, Akamaru….thanks," said Kiba, then stood up.

The dog-boy figured it would be no use looking after Emiko any longer. He wanted to find the others and see if everyone was alright. Most of all, he wanted to ask Gaara for a ride on that sand thing. Kiba had an obsession for speedy things, like that sand transporter.

The moment that Kiba turned around, Emiko started rubbing the bonds on her hands so that it would break. Apparently, she wasn't unconscious. Kiba didn't even notice this. He was turned around the other way, mumbling complaints to himself. Emiko thought she had never seen another guy complain this much (she was wrong, for if she had seen Shikamaru, she would have been surprised at how much he complains).

Then, Akamaru began barking at Kiba. The dog was clever, and had noticed that Emiko was trying to free herself.

_'…Damn that dog…' _Emiko thought, now free of her band bonds. _'…Only a bit more, and I'm free!' _

"…Hmm, Akamaru? What's wrong?" asked Kiba to his dog.

Akamaru barked again and Kiba realized immediately what just happened _right behind his back_. The dog-boy swiftly whirled around, but it was too late. Emiko had freed herself of the bonds and was now running in the other direction. Kiba and Akamaru ran after the Sound nin as fast as they could.

_'Gosh, how could I have been so careless?' _thought Kiba, furious with himself.

The dog-boy with an obsession for speedy things lived up to his reputation. Not only did he _like _speedy stuff, he himself was speedy. Within a few moments, he was only about two meters behind her. Emiko wasn't stupid. She knew that she'd never be able to outrun Kiba, so she stopped. He also stopped.

"…Look, I don't know if it'd be too much to ask of you, but will you _please _let me go?" Emiko said.

"…Very straight-to-the-point, Sound nin. I like that, even though you're a bitch…And why should I listen to you?" Kiba inquired.

"…Because…" Emiko paused. "…Look, I _promise _that I won't come harm you Konohas again! Or, heck, even the Sand, for that matter! I'm going to go escape and not go back to Orochimaru! I won't even _return _to the Sound! Please!"

"…And give me a reason to believe what you're telling me, Sound nin," Kiba was not fazed. "…I know you enough to know that you're not always an honest person. Duh, anyone would've known that after seeing you push Sakura down that cliff."

"I…." Emiko's blue eyes held a kind of desperation in it now. "…I don't have any proof, or reason! Please, just let me and my brother go, we still want to live! We don't want Orochimaru to capture us, or go to some jail with you! Please!"

Now, the Sound nin's eyes were full of tears, threatening to spill out if Kiba refused again. Kiba didn't like to see people cry. Also, somehow, he sensed that Emiko was telling the truth.

_'What the heck, why the heck am I doing this?' _Kiba turned around, leaving a full chance for Emiko to run. _'Shit…and all this for a Sound nin bitch…' _

"Go," was Kiba's one reply.

Emiko didn't need to be told twice. When Kiba turned around again, she was gone. It was one of those situations where you only meet someone _once _in a lifetime. Kiba never saw Emiko or her brother ever again.

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**Joyce(rant): **So, I haven't ranted in a long time so I felt that it's time for a rant:D I hope you don't mind….so…yea. While I was in the middle of writing this chapter, the telephone rang…and I got the WEIRDEST person talking to me on the other line. The guy was apparently English (judging from his accent)…and he was like "Hi..." and I was like "Hi…" and a LOT silence…and then I said "So, who are you?" and he said. "I'm Peter." I said, "I don't know you." And he was like, "I'm _Peter. Peter!_" (Yea, like I'm gonna _remember _who the heck 'Peter' is, since the only 'Peter' I'd know in my life is Peter Pan)…So, I said, "I…don't know you…are you somebody from my school?" He said, "Yea…" I said, "Oh…" Then, I said, " So why do you call?" He said, "Just to talk." I was like, "Okayyyyyyy then." He said, "So what you studying this summer?" I said, "Nothing, school's closed, it's summer." He said, "Oh, okay…how old are you?" I said, "I'm fourteen, hey, I gotta go make lunch now, so bye bye." (Yea, I made up some lame excuse so the guy would hang up, BUT. **Guess what. He DIDN'T**.) He just said, "Really…You sound very mature for a fourteen year old." I said, "Yea, thank you." (And then, I wondered if this was some kinda joke so I asked: ) "Hey, have you talked to anybody else in my class yet?" He said, "No, just you. You don't mind…?" I said, "Uhh…Okay, I don't mind, but I gotta go make lunch now…" He said, "Oh, Okay." And I totally freaked out and hung up!

AHHHHHHH! I'm **sooo** freaked out! **REALLY** freaked out! I _hope, **sincerely hope**, _that it's not another one of my stalkers:'( Yea, I got other...stalkers at my school. :S They're all elementary kids (but this 'Peter', apparently is NOT an elementary kid)…and it freaks me out. :S...I'M SO FREAKED OUT! **HELP ME!** :'(

And…**ANOTHER** freaky thought has just come to me:( If THIS was a JOKE from on of my moronic friends! (cracks knuckles) They will DIE! DIE DIE DIE! THEY KNOW I HATE STALKERS! Ahhhh!

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Okay, my mom has just called…and she _knows_ about the stalker! She says the guy's been calling her for some time now, trying to reach my number! OMG:S I'm so freaked out! My mom says it surely IS a stalker :S. Argghhhh…and she says the next time 'Peter' calls, I should shout at the guy and then hang up. Yup, so that's my plan. :S. Arghhhh…:'( I'm too freaked out.

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Well, that's all, I hope you guys weren't too bored with my rant. :'(….yea….too lazy to reply stuff again (mostly due to the freaky phone call)..so, sorry! And I hope you like this chapter and review. :D


	23. To Convince

Disclaimer: I do no own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XXIII: To Convince_**

Hinata lightly kicked the stone in front of her. It went rolling a few feet, then stopped. She sighed, her face in a worry.

_'M-My cousin's got together with Ten Ten-chan, Shikamaru and Temari are more or less together…I don't know about Sakura and Sasuke…b-but…I-I…have got to tell Naruto that I like him…I-I already promised myself…but how?'_

The white-eyed girl let out another hopeless sigh, walked over to the stone that she just kicked, and kicked it again. Then, from around the corner, she heard two voices talking. When the people turned around the corner, she saw that it was Sakura and Ino.

"Hey, girl!" Ino greeted to her.

"Hi, Hinata-chan!" Sakura walked up to her, then stopped, staring at her face. "…You look sad, Hinata-chan, what's wrong?"

"H-Hi, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan…" the Hyuuga answered. "…I-I look sad?"

"Uhmm…Now that I look at you more closely, yea," Ino leaned over to observe the girl.

"What's wrong, Hinata-chan? Tell us, we'll help you!" Sakura smiled encouragingly at Hinata.

Hinata hesitated. She didn't know if she should tell that she had a 'confessing problem' with Naruto.

_'B-But maybe I really should tell…t-they might have more experience in this stuff than I do…' _So, with that, the Hyuuga heir made up her mind.

"Ino-chan, Sakura-chan…I-I have this problem…b-but don't tell anybody, okay?" Hinata started timidly.

"Sure thing, girl!" Ino said.

"I promise!" Sakura smiled again. "Let's sit on this bench and talk, there's no use standing and talking!"

So, the three girls went and sat on the bench. Before Hinata even started, Sakura had already guessed what this talk was about.

"Hinata-chan…is this about Naruto-kun?" the pink-haired girl was intuitive.

The Hyuuga heir's cheeks immediately reddened.

"H-How did you know?"

Ino giggled. "It's kinda obvious…"

"…Well, Hinata, I kind of noticed you were always looking over at Naruto…" Sakura explained. "….So what is it about Naruto?"

"W-Well…." Hinata gulped, determining herself to be brave about this. "…I-I…w-want…to tell Naruto-kun…t-that…"

"…That you like him?" Ino as-a-matter-of-factly finished for her.

Hinata nodded, finding it even too embarrassing to say the words aloud.

"…Ohhh, but you're too shy to, right?" Sakura assumed.

Again, Hinata nodded. Sakura and Ino sat in silence for a while, trying to think up a solution for the Hyuuga.

"Hey, Hinata-chan?" Sakura addressed, making the Hyuuga look up at her. "…May I ask you something?"

"Y-yes..."

"…Have you….and Naruto-kun, done anything…like, as lovers before?" Sakura asked.

"W-What do you mean!" Hinata's cheeks couldn't get any hotter.

"Sakura means, like, kissing and such," Ino explained.

"W-Well…y-you know the n-night of Naruto-kun's birthday party?"

Sakura and Ino nodded.

"…I…I….I-I…kissed him."

Sakura and Ino stared.

"…You, kissed him?" Ino couldn't believe her ears. "…You mean, you were the one that started it?"

_'Wow, someone as shy as Hinata-chan!' _thought Sakura.

Hinata nodded. "Y-Yes…I-I don't know what came over me…"

"…So, Hinata-chan…you made-out but didn't even tell him that you like him?" Sakura wanted to get the situation clear.

"Y-Yes…"

This time, a long silence followed, while the two girls tried to think of ways to help Hinata. Finally, it was Ino who broke the silence.

"…Hey, Hinata, really…there's no trick to it. You just tell him, that's all…all you need is a little encouragement and a lot of bravery."

"Yea, Hinata-chan!...And I'm sure Naruto wouldn't reject you! As a matter of fact, I even think he likes you!" Sakura said. "…And if he hurts you, I'll kick his ass for you!"

"…A-Actually…Sakura-chan…Naruto-kun…a-already…once told me…t-that h-he like me…" Hinata's voice was barely audible.

"Oooh, really! ….Then what's the hesitation for, then?" Ino asked.

"She's probably just shy, Ino," Sakura said.

"Y-Yes…"

"Come on, Hinata-chan!" Sakura tried her best to encourage the shy girl. "…You've already heard about Neji and Ten Ten, haven't you? They're so cute together!"

"…And Shikamaru and Temari too!" Ino added supportively.

Hearing all this, Hinata was starting to have a little, tiny bit more of self-confidence.

"…I-I guess so…S-Sakura-chan, Ino-chan…T-Thank you very much…"

"No problem, girl!" Ino said, and then whispered something in Sakura's ear.

Hinata watched, confused, as Sakura's eyes lightened up.

"Hey, Hinata-chan! Me and Ino have found the _perfect _place for you too confess to Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed.

"…R-R-Really?"

"Yea! …And a _very _romantic place too!" Ino added excitedly.

"Just come down here at 3 o' clock, afternoon, by the lake, okay?" Sakura winked at her. "…We got to go now! We're going to go make preparations for you!"

The two stood up and began to hurriedly walk away.

"…W-Wait, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan!" Hinata suddenly called.

"Yes, girl?" Ino turned around and asked.

"…A-Are you…s-sure about this…"

Sakura and Ino nodded.

"Sure as ever!" Sakura gave Hinata an encouraging smile and continued to walk.

Then, Hinata stopped them the second time. "…W-Wait!"

The pink-haired girl and the blonde-haired girl halted again, and turned around to look at the Hyuuga, confused.

"…S-Sakura-chan…m-may I ask you something?"

"Sure!"

"…A-Are…y-you…and S-Sasuke-kun…t-together? …I-I was just c-curious…"

Sakura was silent. She hasn't really thought about the answer to this question just yet.

_'What should I say? Sometimes, we get along…other times, we don't…Sometimes, I think he's adorable…and other times, I want to strangle the arrogant guy…and then sometimes he's annoyed at me, and sometimes he's paranoid over me…this is really weird…hmm…is this what they call 'together'!'_

"Well…" Sakura started. "…I guess…well…"

"Yea, Hinata-chan, they're together," Ino answered for her.

"O-Oh, okay…" Hinata was now satisfied with the answer.

Before Sakura could say anything more to this, Ino had dragged her off to make 'preparations' for Hinata.

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Sasuke was sitting on the grass, staring listlessly into the lake. He'd just finish his daily training, and there was nothing else to do. The Uchiha wondered _why _he even agreed to come to Naruto's birthday party. Sighing, he lay down, his position very similar to Shikamaru's lazy stance.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun!"

The Uchiha glanced up, seeing Sakura standing over him.

_'Aa…A break from the boredom at last,' _he thought, smirking.

"What," he replied.

"…Um…Sasuke-kun…" she started.

Sasuke didn't even _try _to cover up his smirk.

_'…Shy over me, again, aren't ya?' _was the first thought that came to the Uchiha's head.

"Yeah?" Sasuke gave her a totally careless reply.

But, what the pink-haired girl said next was totally unexpected for Sasuke.

"…Could you please…get out of here?"

Sasuke stared. Sakura looked down at the Uchiha's face, confused at why he was looking at her like that. Then, he sat up, all trace of his shock gone.

"…And why should I get out of here, Sakura?"

"Well…you see…I need to reserve this place for someone…." Sakura couldn't tell Sasuke that it was for Naruto and Hinata, because Hinata had told her not to tell anyone.

The Uchiha now stood up. "…For who?"

"I can't tell you…but will you please go somewhere else?"

Sasuke was getting suspicious, but he wasn't going to force Sakura into telling him what she didn't want to. He figured that it must be something _very _important that she had to keep it a secret from him.

_'Might as well take advantage of the situation then,' _he thought. _'…Besides, I'm bored…'_

"Well then, Sakura," the Uchiha started. "…What will you give me if I go somewhere else?"

Now, it was Sakura's turn to stare.

_'What! He NEEDS something in return for just shoving his ass out of this place!' _Inner Sakura thought, exasperated.

"I…I don't have anything to give, Sasuke! Just walk out of here, okay? I don't think it's that hard!"

"Oh, it isn't?"

"No, it isn't!"

"…But what if I don't want to?" he was finding it _very _amusing.

"…"

"What?"

"Then…Then! I'm going to drag your ass outta here!" was her solution.

"Oh, really?"

Sakura didn't answer to his arrogantly smirking face. She just grabbed his wrist and tried to drag him out. Unfortunately, the Uchiha didn't even budge. Just as Sakura was about to give up and _beg _her supposed-boyfriend to be a _little bit _more cooperative, they heard voices in the distance. Moments later, it turned out to be Ino and Naruto.

"…What is it you want to show me! Show me now! I wanna see, Ino-chan!" Naruto was saying.

"Yea, yea…wait! You'll see soon enough," replied Ino, who looked like she was tired from answering all of Naruto's questions.

Naruto and Ino stepped into the clearing to see Sakura pulling on Sasuke's hand, while the Uchiha was trying his best to stand his ground. Naruto immediately misunderstood the scene.

"Awwww, Ino! We came too late!" the fox-boy whined. "…Sakura-chan's _already _made out with Sasuke!"

"WHAT!" the Uchiha and Sakura shouted in unison.

"No, no, Naruto! That's not it!" Ino tried to explain. "Actually—"

Ino stopped when she saw a person appear behind all of them. Hinata had come.

"H-H-Hi…A-Am I….interrupting something?" the timid Hyuuga heir asked.

"Oh, no, no, not at all, Hinata-chan!" Sakura answered a little too quickly, immediately releasing her grip from Sasuke's wrist.

"Hey, Sakura!" Ino said. "You just take care of Sasuke over there, and quick! I'll take care of Naruto and Hinata!"

Sakura nodded, and then turned to glare at the unmoving Uchiha. "…Sasuke! I _said _get out of here!"

Sasuke, finding this more fun every minute, pretended not to hear her and just gave her his famous smirk. Sakura fumed.

_'I'm not gonna lose to you, Sasuke! …If the tough technique doesn't work, I still have the sweet technique to use on you!' _

And, in a split second, Sakura's raged face turned soft and gentle. The pink-haired girl was now smiling her sweetest.

"…Sasuke-kun, you're _so _sweet! How about we take a trip to the souvenir shop and get some candy?" her voice was laced with the sweetest sugar.

Truth be told, the Uchiha was _almost _tempted. And no, definitely not because of the candy treat. Unfortunately, he quickly recovered his cold composition.

"No," was his reply.

Again, Sakura's sweet face turned pissed as she racked up another plan in her brain.

_'Fine, you asked for it, Uchiha! Plan C, used only for emergencies!' _

Then, Sakura's face turned like she didn't care.

"Fine, Sasuke, stay here if you want," Sakura said, beginning to walk away. "…I think I'll just go spend some time _flirting _with various guys, just 'cause I'm really bored."

"I don't care."

"Good, Sasuke, just _stay _there then," the pink-haired shinobi replied, and then walked off calmly.

"…"

A few moments of silence passed. Ino, Naruto, and Hinata watched Sasuke, who still stood there, trying to collect what was left of his pride. One could really hear the wind blow.

"Uh…So you really _don't _care huh, Sasuke?" Naruto finally spoke.

"Yea, I don't, you gotta _problem _with that, dobe?"

Hinata calmed the fox-boy down before the blonde could offer a retort.

"I'm gonna get outta here…staying with you guys is boring," the Uchiha said after a long silence.

After Sasuke had gone, Ino shoved Naruto and Hinata in a candlelit boat that she had prepared on the lake.

"Have fun!" Ino told the two, and began to walk back to the building.

_'Sasuke sure does make up lame excuses for going to find Sakura…' _thought Ino.

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Sakura looked cautiously behind her. She could sense that Sasuke was getting closer and closer to her. Inwardly, she gave herself a pat on the back.

_'Yes, you rock, girl! You got Sasuke out of there!' _Sakura told herself.

A few minutes later, Sakura found herself sitting in the Konoha Hot Springs' library, reading a random book about jutsus. Sakura figured she needed some relax time, since she spent last night being captured and thrown off a cliff…and spent the morning trying to convince a certain stubborn Uchiha to _move. _The only people in the library were Gaara and her. Sakura didn't mind the redhead much now, for some reason. Besides, he was sitting _way _in the other corner of the room, reading a book about social customs.

The library door creaked open. Sakura and Gaara glanced up at the intruder. It was Sasuke, casually (or, at least, trying to) strolling in. The Uchiha didn't speak a word to either Sakura or Gaara. He just went to another shelf of books and began browsing. Gaara went back to reading his book. Sakura _couldn't _go back to reading her book.

The silence was deafening.

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**Joyce: **Yea, so here's the next chapter:D I hope you guys like this one…yea, and just for the record, my stalker is _still _stalking me. :( I hung up tons of times but he still stalks…(sigh)…oh, well…I'll just swear at him again and again and hopefully he gets the message …lol…and THANKS for all the feedback on how to handle the stalker! You guys are so sweet:D Review, Review, Review:D


	24. Guinea Pigs

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XXIV: Guinea Pigs_**

Sakura really, _really _couldn't stand the silence now.

"…Sasuke-kun! Why're you here?" the pink-haired girl finally decided to ask, standing up.

The Uchiha didn't even as much as take his eyes off of the books he was browsing.

"…To browse some books of course, you annoying girl," was his reply.

"Oh…"

Another long silence followed after that. Sakura tried unsuccessfully to continue reading her book. After reading a sentence over and over for three times, she closed the book and proceeded to walk out the door of the library.

_'…Like I can even concentrate doing anything at all in that heavy atmosphere in the library!' _She thought.

Sasuke did _not _want Sakura to think that he was indeed following her around (for the sole purpose of, of course, making sure that she wasn't going to _flirt _anywhere, like she said she would). So, he stayed where he was. The Uchiha heard another book close in the room. He narrowed his eyes to see that Gaara had closed his book, put it back on the shelf, and was now exiting the library door.

Sasuke fought the urge to follow suit. Somewhere in his head, his intuition told him that…Gaara was following Sakura?

_'No, no, no way…' _he shook his head to get rid of the absurd thought.

However, the Uchiha had to change his mind about that when he continued to observe Gaara from the window of the library. The redhead was walking _right after _Sakura!

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In another place at the Konoha Hot Springs, the silence was also overwhelming. But not for long.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" Naruto said cheerfully. "…Ino told me you had something for me! What is it, what is it!"

"S-Something for you?" the Hyuuga girl stammered. "I-It's not that…S-Sorry, N-Naruto-kun…I-I don't have anything for you…"

Hinata lowered her head to look down at the water around the small boat, her face giving away how sorry she was about that.

"Oui, Hinata! That's totally fine, don't sweat it," Naruto reached over to squeeze her hand and give her a genuine smile.

It was at that moment that Hinata finally made it her final resolve to do what she had come here to do.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata didn't know why she was whispering.

"Hmm?"

"T-That day…a-at the tea house…y-you said…" she paused.

The red blush on her face was softened by the fog around them.

"Uhmmm…yea, that….I said I liked you, didn't I?" he quietly, (for once) finishing the sentence for her. "I was telling the truth, you know, Hinata-chan?"

She nodded. She_ knew _to the bottom of her heart that he was indeed telling the truth.

"I-I-I…j-just also wanted to answer your q-question that time…"

**F L A S H B A C K**

_"Hey, Hinata-chan…"_

_"Y-Yes?"_

_"Do you like me?" Naruto's suddenly asked. His eyes were serious this time, not joking like it was in the previous times._

_"W-Why have you…" she trailed off, coloring._

_She didn't answer the question. _

_"N-Naruto…I…Neji will be calling for me…" Hinata quickly got up, her face still red._

_"Hinata-chan…you won't answer the question?" _

**F L A S H B A C K**

Naruto squeezed her hand even tighter now.

"I'm listening, Hinata-chan…" he said softly.

There was a tint of pink on the fox-boy's cheeks. Hinata braced herself. Her heart was thumping way too loud for her own liking.

_'T-This is it…N-Now or never…Naruto-kun…'_

"N-Naruto-kun….I—"

At that moment, Hinata decided to lean on one edge of the boat a _little _bit too hard. The boat tipped over, sending both Hinata and Naruto into the water.

_'T-This is so bad…I-I…just ruined my own chance for this!' _Hinata thought when she realized what happened, slightly furious with herself. _'I-I-I…g-give up!"_

However, the voices in her head wouldn't allow her to just give up for _anything. _Just like Sakura (who was already brutely strong) had an even stronger Inner Sakura, Hinata also found that she had a stronger inner self.

_'Hinata, girl! You can't give up!' _her Inner self told her.

_'B-But…' _

_'Don't give up just because the boat fell over! That's a measly excuse for getting out of what needs to be done!'_

_'I-Isn't it going to be even harder this w-way? S-Shouldn't I wait some other t-time?'_

_'The harder, the better, my girl…and don't make it wait till next time…what if you don't get a chance to tell him? Do you remember what it felt like when he was captured?'_

_'Y-Yes…I remember everything…'_

_'Yea, so get your butt up there and do what you have to do! I have your back, Sakura has your back, and Ino has your back!'_

_'N-Neji…d-doesn't have m-my back…'_

_'Err…yea, but who cares? Right?'_

And, for once, Hinata agreed. The next moment, she found that was spluttering out water on the bank of the lake. Naruto was rubbing her back.

"Hinata-chan! Are you okay?" he leaned down to look at her worried.

Hinata didn't even address the question. She was going to tell him, _now. _

"….Y-Yes!" well, that was short for a 'confession.'

Naruto looked confused. "Eh? Yes for what?"

Hinata gulped. "…Y-Yes! I-I-I-I…._do_ like you too!"

Naruto's eyes widened. His grin multiplied. "Really!"

Hinata nodded, her eyes determined, for once.

"You know what, Hinata-chan! I like you too, even though I told you that already!"

They hugged, wetness and all. Then, when the irony of it all hit them, they burst out laughing.

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"Sakura."

Sakura turned around to the voice that called her. The person she least expected was standing there.

"G-Gaara! Good morning!" the pink-haired girl burst out, a little too quickly.

"I have a favor to ask of you, Sakura."

_'Very straight to the point…' _she thought.

"Oh, yes, of course! What is it?" she smiled at him (mainly so that he wouldn't see that she was a _bit _freaked out by him talking to her).

"…You shouldn't agree to a favor unless you know what it is first."

"Uhh…Oh, yea, I guess so…then, what's the favor then, Gaara?"

"…But you can't back out of it now, since you already agreed."

Sakura sweatdropped. _'Then what was the whole point of informing me to agree to the favor after I know what it is! Weird guy…' _

Of course, Sakura dared not say that out loud. She wished to live a little longer than that.

"Yes, I guess so…." She said sheepishly.

"Today, I read a book on social customs," the redhead started. "…Then, I realized, I would need to experience some on the things mentioned in the book first-handedly."

"Uhmm…Hm…." Sakura didn't quite grasp at what he was getting at, but stayed silent.

"So, I would need a guinea pig to test my social skills."

Realization hit on Sakura. Her green eyes widened. "M-Me? Y-You want me to be t-the _guinea pig?_"

Gaara nodded. "I presume that is fine with you, since you already agreed."

Again, Sakura sweatdropped. _'T-Tricky guy!' _Gaara was not one to waste time. He went directly to the matter at hand.

"Sakura, the first social skill I must learn is something that I already saw a lot of people do," the redhead stated, his face devoid of emotion. "Kissing. I saw my sister and the Nara do it, and Neji and Ten Ten do it. I presume that I must also know how to do it."

Sakura couldn't do _anything _but stare at the redhead and his freaky panda eyes.

"You mean. You want ME. To. Kiss. With. You," Sakura was exasperated.

Gaara nodded, strode over in a swift second and grabbed her waist. Now, the two were super close and getting closer…and still, Gaara's face was still unemotional. Sakura was just too shocked to move.

_'Oh. My. Goodness. This is GAARA we're talking about…'_

"Hey, what're you doing with my girl?" a voice edged with dangerous rage came from behind them.

It was (of course) Sasuke, who had indeed stalked after the two. Sakura, remembering what happened last time with Jiro (when Sasuke became deathly jealous), decided to quickly explain what had really happened, so the Uchiha wouldn't be overeacting again.

"Sasuke, this isn't what it looks like—"

Gaara placed a light finger on Sakura's lips. "…Sakura is _your _girl?"

"Yea, so get your hands off her _now,_" Sasuke remarked coldly.

_'S-Stupid Sasuke! Don't provoke Gaara! He's SABAKU NO GAARA! He can kill you!' _Sakura thought, looking up, frightened, into Gaara's face.

To her surprise, Gaara _did _let go of Sakura.

"I apologize. I didn't know that you," at this, the redhead looked at Sakura. "…was the Uchiha's property. I will got find other guinea pigs."

The redhead simply walked off, leaving Sakura and Sasuke somewhat stunned. Slowly, Sakura _got_ what Gaara had said.

_'How dare…he call me PROPERTY!' _

"Hey, wait, Gaara!" Sakura called. "…Just so you know, I'm _not _his property."

Gaara halted and turned around.

"Never mind her, Gaara, she _is _my property," Sasuke remarked coolly.

"Wha—" She was shushed by the Uchiha.

The redhead nodded in reply to Sasuke's remark and continued to walk off. Once Gaara had gone, Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief.

"That…was weird…" she said. "…And, Sasuke-kun, I'm _not _your property, you _know_ that right?"

"No."

"…"

"…"

"Whatever, I'm too tired of arguing you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura let out a kind of I-give-up smile. "...I'll just say I'm your girlfriend, okay? Anyways, _you _should have enough faith in me to trust that I won't _cheat _on you!"

She continuously poked at his chest.

"Aa…" of course, the Uchiha's reply didn't really clarify stuff.

So, Sakura decided to change topics just for the sake of it.

"Sasuke-kun, let's go to the hot springs together, it should be fun!" she glanced up at him hopefully.

"Hm," again, no clarification.

_'What the HECK is that supposed to mean!' _Inner Sakura thought.

"Urm…so are we going or not?" Sakura ventured to ask again.

"Don't be annoying, Sakura. Just go change."

_'Ahh, NOW I got clarification…'_

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"_O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?_

_Deny thy father and refuse thy name;  
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,  
And I'll no longer be a Capulet_!" Lee recited.

Earlier, the Green Beast of Konoha had been reading this book called Romeo and Juliet in the library. Apparently, he was fascinated by the plot of the story, along with all of its quotes. He _really _couldn't resist the urge to recite the quotes when relaxing so nicely in a hot spring such as this…

"…Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?" a voice came from behind him.

Startled, Lee whirled around to see…Shino!

"You…read that book too?" Lee asked.

The bug-guy impassively nodded. "I have read and studied all the works of Shakespeare."

"Wow…that's very cool!" Lee gave Shino a wink and a thumbs-up.

Shino just nodded in acceptance.

"Hey, guys! Did I just here someone reciting Shakespeare?" Ino's voice sounded throughout the hot spring.

From behind her came Kiba, Kankurou, Temari, Chouji and Shikamaru. They all got themselves settled nicely in the pool.

"I can recite Shakespeare too…" the Nara spoke up.

Temari turned to him and poked his arm. "_Really, _genius? Recite it to me, then!"

"Yes, Nara, that is an _order _from my sister you hear? You better recite it all _very accurately _or the water will turn very red from your blood very soon…" Kankurou added, just for the sake of threatening Shikamaru.

The Nara sighed. "Fine, Fine_… _

_There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls,  
Doing more murders in this loathsome world,  
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell…"_

"Whoa, Temari, your genius boyfriend really _is _a genius…" Ino remarked.

"Yea, I know!" Temari said, grinning and poking the Nara in the arm again.

**Joyce: **Lol, yea, the Shakespeare idea was _totally _random..:D..I just thought that it was funny, so I put it in…and, by the way, I think Romeo and Juliet is totally a legendary piece of work..:)….and second thing, thank you for all the suggestions on how to handle the Peter stalker:D I think he's stopped now! YAY! CHEERS:D THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I really really love you guys:D Now…I'll answer some reviews, since I haven't in so long:D

**_To Kyonkichi13: _**Wow, your review is really sweet! I'm _very _glad you think that I can make every relationship special! I'm _eternally grateful _that I can even change your mind about SasuSaku fics:)

**_To HarunoSakura's tears: _**Lol, ya, the 'Social Customs' book was funny..lol:D Glad you liked! Hope you liked the teeny tiny bit of GaaraSakuraSasuke u asked for:)

**To minoko-chan:** Yes! I love the 'Sasuke likes to tease Sakura' thing too:D

**To Sharisha-chan:** Wooohooooo! Thanks for rating my fic an A:)

**To Dragon Man 180:** YAY! You know what:D You're the only person who's totally figured that out! I really _did _have The Little Mermaid in mind when I wrote that! And, it's still in my mind, lol, for some weird reason:D You're a mind reader! ;) _I'm glad you got it figured out:D_

**To Latouya:** Lol, TRIBAL social customs! That would be really funny, hahahaha!

…Well, that's all for this time:D I've got to go call some people…'cause I'm holding a farewell party for my friend tomorrow (she's going as an exchange student to Minnesota)!...I'm so excited for the party:)


	25. Bachelor and Bachelorette Corner

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XXV: Bachelor and Bachelorette Corner_**

"…Did I ever tell you that I liked your hair?" Ten Ten remarked, her nimble fingers busy braiding Neji's hair.

"…Yea…you did, tons of times…But I still don't understand why you like braiding it so much, just because you like it," came Neji's blank reply.

The two were sitting on Neji's bed in the room that he shared with Lee and Shino. Since Lee and Shino weren't there, Ten Ten and Neji had the room to themselves.

"Aww, come on…it looks cute, actually," Ten Ten pouted a little. "…What do you say we go down and chill at the springs after this?"

The Hyuuga nodded, unaware that Ten Ten had tied a pink ribbon to the end of the braid.

"Sure…" his voice had a perverted tint to it.

Ten Ten recognized the Hyuuga's perverted tone it immediately. Truth be told, she didn't mind it much when he wanted some making-out done, but…

"Don't even _think _about it Neji…" she said trying to keep her voice even. "…Especially after practically _everyone _witnessing that we were…doing that…"

Neji turned around a little to look at his girlfriend.

"I don't remember _that _being a problem, Ten Ten," he said.

"What! But, I just saw you go a bit red in the face when you discovered that they were spying on us!" she sounded exasperated.

The Hyuuga now shrugged.

"Now that I think about it, I'm not that embarrassed any more…" he replied her coolly.

Ten minutes later, the two found themselves at the Hot Springs. To Neji's ultimate dismay, the rest of the gang was also chilling in the pool. He had secretly been hoping for the pool to be empty, so he could do some fun, intimate stuff with his girlfriend…

"Cheer up, Neji!" Ten Ten nudged him in the side and smiled.

"What? Do I look sad to you or something?" Neji didn't want Ten Ten to know what he was thinking.

However, it was highly unlikely that Ten Ten didn't know what the Hyuuga was thinking. After all, they'd been teammates since forever.

"Whatever, Neji…" she laughed a little. "Let's get in the pool!"

The save himself all the dignity that he had left, he just nodded and followed her in.

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On the other side of the pool, eyeing them was Shino. He had by now given up on trying to hit on Ten Ten, not that he was really sad or bitter about it anyway. He couldn't really care less. His brief attention with her before was more or less entirely because of the bikini she was wearing that other time. Unknown to the bug-guy, Lee was also watching Shino very carefully. Apparently, the Green Beast of Konoha still didn't seem to trust the bug-guy. Lee thought that Ten Ten was best off with Neji.

On the other side of Lee sat Ino, and next to _her _sat Chouji. Kiba and Kankurou were also relatively close in that area. Lee, (being observative as he was), noticed a pattern in the places where people sat in the pool. Couples were sitting together, and, well, singles were huddled over at _this _side of the pool, where he was. For a brief moment, the thought crossed Lee's mind that he must really be pathetic, but he brushed it away quickly.

However, Lee was not the only one that noticed the obvious pattern in of sitting in the pool.

"…We're in the _bachelors_' corner over here…" Kiba spoke up (he was sitting in front of Lee).

Lee could here a barely detectable hopeless sigh from the dog-boy.

"Yea, and _bachelorette…_" Ino added, hearing Kiba's remark.

"Shame," Kankurou added, although his eyes were still glued to every movement Shikamaru was making near Temari.

By now, everyone in the 'bachelor's corner' seemed to have been tuned in to the conversation. On the back of each and every one of the bachelors' (or bacherlorette)'s minds, there sprouted a little feeling of pity for themselves. It really didn't help them, seeing four successful couples sitting here right in front of them…

First, they could see Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura was in a white bikini, trying very hard to strike an interesting conversation with the Uchiha. Sasuke occasionally replied the pink-haired girl, but never once looking her in the eye. The Uchiha looked a little redder in the face than usual. It kind of looked like he was trying to convince himself that, _no, _Sakura didn't look cute in a bikini and _no, _he didn't like the fact that she was talking to him…but obviously, he was failing quite miserably. From time to time, the Uchiha stole glances at his newfound girlfriend (although over in the bachelors' corner, nobody knew that they were a couple yet), only to turn away rather quickly. Sakura didn't really seem to notice any of this, she was just happy with occasionally striking a successful conversation with him.

Then, they could see Naruto and Hinata. They hadn't announced yet that they were officially a couple, but everyone (with the exception of Hyuuga Neji) had a slight hunch that they would soon, seeing as they'd never seen Naruto been this intimate (or as intimate as he could be) with the Hyuuga heir before. Naruto was currently telling random jokes to the Hyuuga girl, with her blushing and laughing occasionally. As everyone from the bachelors' corner watched, now Naruto whispered something in Hinata's ear. She looked slightly worried for a second, but then a determined look came to her face and she nodded confidently. A moment later, Naruto stood up.

"Hey, everyone! I, as the birthday boy, have something to announce!" he blonde said loudly.

"What is it, dobe?" Sasuke said in a cold voice (although he looked slightly relieved that he wouldn't have to deal with looking at Sakura in a bikini any longer…).

"Shut up, idiot!" Naruto said to Sasuke. "I, for once, have something you don't have now."

The Uchiha raised his eyebrows.

"…And what might that be?"

"Well, I'm going to announce that," here, Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her to stand up (which she did rather sheepishly). "I now, have a _girlfriend. _Me and Hinata-chan are now a couple."

The fox-boy stuck his tongue out at the Uchiha. Neji's eyes practically popped out of his head.

"…That's it, dobe?" Sasuke didn't seem a bit fazed.

The Uchiha was _not _one to give up to his lifetime rival.

"…And, what makes you _think _that you had a girlfriend before I did?" Sasuke retorted, his voice icier than ever.

At this, Naruto's eyes widened. "WHAT! DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME—"

"Yea, I _do _mean that, dobe," Sasuke smirked.

Naruto looked absolutely shocked for a moment, but quickly recovered.

"I don't believe you, you idiot! Show me the proof!"

The Uchiha continued to smirk.

"See this annoying girl sitting over here next to me, dobe? Well, that's my girlfriend," Sasuke shot but a ferocious look back at Naruto.

The rivals seemed to have forgotten all about the people around them.

"Hey!" Sakura cried out, protesting against being called 'annoying girl'.

"HAH! See over there, idiot? You _really _don't have a girlfriend! You're just too _afraid _of losing to me, so you just randomly point to Sakura and say that she's your girlfriend!" Naruto shouted, a triumphant grin on his face.

"Shut up, dobe!" Sasuke was looking more and more pissed very moment.

"HAHAHAHAHA! You can't even _prove _to me that Sakura is your girlfriend! You _loser!_" Naruto taunted.

"Fine, you _want _proof, dobe? I'm gonna _give _you proof, and stick it up your ass," Sasuke said angrily, and yanked Sakura close to him.

He gave her the angriest, most forceful, and hot French kiss _ever_. In front of the _whole audience._ Sakura was _shocked. _Naruto was _mortified. _Everyone stared. After something about like 30 seconds, the Uchiha let go of Sakura.

"…See that, dobe? _That's _the stupid proof you want," the Uchiha smirked, half over his triumph over Naruto, and half over Sakura's burning face.

"Whatever, idiot! I _bet _I got Hinata-chan before you did!"

"Don't make me laugh, dobe—"

"STOP. RIGHT. THERE," a dangerous voice said.

Naruto and Sasuke turned their heads to see Neji, who had now stood up.

"Explain this to me, Naruto. _How, exactly, _did you get Hinata to be your girlfriend?" Neji had walked up to Naruto now, a fierce look in his eyes.

"U-Uhhh….I….hehehehehe," Naruto laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "I…uhhhh………."

Neji looked forcibly calm (but dangerous, no doubt).

"N-N-Neji?" Hinata spoke up quietly behind Naruto. "I…I…t-told h-him that I liked him….P-Please don't blame him for this, N-Neji!"

Neji looked stunned. His face expression softened when he saw his cousin. In a moment, he had composed himself again.

"Fine then, Hinata," the Hyuuga male finally said. "…But when we go back to Konoha, you must inform your father of your current status with Naruto…"

"I-I u-understand, Neji!" Hinata quickly said. "I-I will do so!"

Then, Neji felt someone tug at his arm. It was Ten Ten.

"Don't be too serious about it, Neji!" Ten Ten said cheerfully. "We're also a couple too, just like them, aren't we?"

Neji flashed her a small, but uncertain smile. "I believe so…."

"Yea, don't be a hypocrite, Neji! Your cousin's safe with me!" Naruto said cheerily.

"Yea, she better be," Neji stated.

Well, that scene, in spite of being very good and cheery in Naruto and Hinata's view, just made the mood in the 'bachelors' corner' gloomier.

"Yea, and there goes another successful couple…" Chouji remarked, obviously feeling very sorry for himself.

Kankurou and Ino nodded.

"…And just look over there," Shino spoke up and cocked his head in the direction of Shikamaru and Temari.

"…Yea, well, I'm glad Shikamaru's happy…but I kind of feel sorry for myself, you know?" Chouji chuckled a bit.

Ino giggled and nodded. "I know! Well, it's not always good for Shikamaru though! 'Cause he has to watch his back, or Kankurou or Gaara could seriously hurt him!"

Hearing this, Kankurou snorted. "Well, yea, he _better _watch his back…And speaking of Gaara….I haven't seen him any where…have any of you guys seen my brother?"

Lee, Kiba, Shino, Ino, and Chouji shook their heads. However, they didn't have to wait long for the redhead to show up. Gaara showed up with three girls practically hanging onto him. Two of them were the same girls that had flirted with him since the night of Naruto's party, and one of them was a new girl. Ino spotted that the blonde girl was wearing a bikini that had the words "I've Been Pimped" on it.

"As I said before, Kankurou, your brother is quite the pimp," Chouji said.

Everyone in the 'bachelors' corner' watched Gaara give each of the girls a kiss on the lips. Obviously, the redhead's 'social skills' really have improved.

"Seems like he had a lot of practice since last time…" Ino remarked, remembering last time, when Gaara didn't even know how to start a conversation with the girls properly…

Kankurou nodded. "…Well, Gaara always was a fast-learning boy…"

"Why is he hooking up with those girls now? Today's our last day at the Konoha Hot Springs…we're leaving tomorrow, anyway," Lee said.

Kiba turned to give Lee and incredulous look. "…Does that even matter, Lee? We're dealing with girls here, Lee…just dump them anytime."

At that remark, Ino gave Kiba a look so sharp that he winced.

"…That is horrible, Kiba! We must be gentlemen!" Apparently, Lee thought the same thing that Ino did.

"Yea!" for once, Ino agreed with Lee.

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Well, the bachelors (and bachelorette) really did have reason to feel a bit sorry for themselves, for even the dogs were going lovey-dovey. Unknown to all of them, in Naruto's room, Akamaru was snuzzling happily next to Ramen, the dog that Kiba had given to Naruto for his birthday. Obviously, the two cute dogs were very, very much in love. O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.

**Joyce: **Hope you like this one, and please read and review:D I _think _the next chapter will be the last, unless plans change:) Well, I thank you for all your support again, and reviewing for my last chapters would be very good to me indeed:D I loved _every one _of your reviews:D


	26. Farewell

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**7 Days, Come What May**

**_Chapter XXVI: Farewell _**

Temari was the first one up at the morning of departure. Most of the days, she slept in later than Shikamaru, but today…today was a little _different_. Today the Konohas were returning to Konoha and she and her brothers were returning to Suna.

In truth, neither Temari nor Shikamaru had given this much thought…actually, they'd been more like…_avoiding_ it. But today, Temari couldn't shut out the questions that'd been ringing in her head since last night any longer. Questions like, what would happen to their newfound relationship if they part? Would a long distance relationship ever work? Would he be committed? Will she have enough faith in him?

The more Temari thought about it, the more hopeless she got. She spun around in her chair and looked at the still sleeping Shikamaru.

_'Even sleeping…he still has a kind of annoyed expression on his face!' _she giggled silently at the thought.

Suddenly, it made her kind of sad, watching him like this. To think that she wouldn't be able to see him again for a long time…To think that he wouldn't be there when she felt like hugging someone… Temari suddenly realized that her eyes were a bit damp.

_'What! This isn't me…I don't cry over little stuff…' _Temari thought, ferociously wiping the embarrassment from her eyes.

Hastily standing up, she decided to stay out of Shikamaru's way until she was a long ways away from the hot springs. She didn't want to see him when they had to part. Most of all, she didn't want him to see her _cry_.

After Temari gone out of the bedroom, shutting her door very, very quietly, Shikamaru cracked open one eye. He sat up. He, too, didn't want to face this sad reality, but he knew that he had to.

"Temari?"

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"Yahhhhhhhhhh!" Sakura yelled, and charged at her suitcase.

She forcefully jumped on it, and yet, it _still _refused to close. She couldn't figure out _why _everything fitted perfectly when she came here, when now everything was too stuffed.

_'Hmm…maybe it's because of that yukata that Sasuke bought me! Maybe that's why…'_

Sakura unzipped the big and pulled the yukata out and set it beside the suitcase. Then, she zipped it up again and tried to close it.

_'Another try should do!' _And with that thought, Sakura proceeded to charge at the suitcase again.

Unfortunately, Sasuke had chosen that very moment to pop his head inside to room to check out on how Sakura was doing with the packing. Instead of charging into the suitcase, Sakura ended up tackling Sasuke and pinning him to the floor.

"Hey! Sakura, _what _are you doing!" He looked up at her, a bit shocked from the impact of the fall.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry, so sorry!" she blushed a little, and then quickly stood up, offering him a hand. "I was just…"

He took her hand. "…Trying to pack up, huh?"

There goes the infamous smirk.

"Yea, yea…" Sakura didn't want to admit defeat just yet. "…Don't worry, I'll get it over and done with soon…"

The pink haired-shinobi quickly readied herself for another forceful jump at her stubborn suitcase. Sasuke watched, amused.

"Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

And yet, after another jump, the suitcase _still _refused to move. Sakura sat on the suitcase, her hair all riled up and a grudging look on her face.

"This is hopeless…"

To her _ultimate _surprise, Sasuke chuckled a little at her downfall. She stared. If there was one fact she knew, it was that the Uchiha did _not _usually laugh. Then, he did another thing that she didn't expect _at all_. Sasuke walked over and crouched down next to her where she was sitting on the suitcase. And then…

He gave her a peck on the forehead. Then…

"…Get off of the suitcase, Sakura," he commanded in his usual cold voice. "Obviously, you don't know how to pack."

Sakura did as he had told her to (mostly because she was still stunned). Sasuke unzipped the suitcase and looked for the source of the problem; why the suitcase wouldn't close. He found the problem immediately. _None _of the clothes were folded up neatly. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

"…You're messier than you look, Sakura."

"I'm not! I just…I hate folding clothes…"

Sasuke just smirked, pulled out a red shirt from the suitcase, and started folding. Sakura just watched the Uchiha in awe. He could be a _housewife _for all she knew.

_'Maybe that's because he lived alone all his life…that's why he's so good at this stuff!' _she thought, observing him folding up her things.

After a few minutes, Sasuke was finished; he took the yukata that Sakura had taken out of the suitcase a while ago and set it on top of all her other things. It fit in the suitcase _comfortably_.

"Let's go now, I think the carriages are already parking outside," he said, after zipping up the suitcase.

"Yea, okay…." Sakura smiled at him. "Hey, thanks for helping!"

He shrugged indifferently, even though there was a tinge of pink on his cheeks. Then, together, they headed out the door, Sakura clinging onto his arm, and he carrying her suitcase.

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"Aww, Akamaru, you're a big boy now! I'm so proud, you know?" Kiba rubbed his dog's head affectionately and looked at the female dog next to him. "Ramen here seems to like you too!"

Akamaru woofed in response as Ramen cuddled lovingly next to him.

"Well, just so you know, Akamaru and Ramen, you have my blessings!" said Kiba, in a most serious tone of voice.

Before Akamaru or Ramen could bark anything in reply…

"Hey, Kiba!"

Kiba turned around, seeing Kankurou there with Lee and Shino.

"Kiba, Neji told us that you were the one who was left to look after that female Sound nin last, the one called Emiko," Kankurou said. "Where is she now?"

"…Yea….where is she? Also, unfortunately, the male Sound nin called Jiro has already mysteriously escaped," Lee added.

Kiba was silent for a moment. He picked at the grass.

"Well?" Kankurou pressed.

"Why are you asking now, I thought you guys have forgotten all about the enemies…" Kiba said.

"We have, momentarily…because of the celebration that everyone's back, safe and sound…but Neji remembered…"Shino explained.

Another silence followed.

"I…let Emiko go," Kiba said finally, and then turned back to look at his dogs. "…And she probably went to rescue her brother…"

"What! Kiba, how could you do such a thing!" Lee exclaimed, unbelieving his ears.

"…Explain this _now_, Kiba…" Kankurou's voice ringed of impatience.

"…I trusted her…she didn't look like she was about to join back with the other Sound people…she just wanted to save her brother and live peacefully…" Kiba's voice didn't waver at all as he explained this.

"…Do you mean to tell me that _that's _the _only _reason you let her go!" Kankurou now walked dangerously closer to where Kiba was crouching down.

Kiba didn't answer. Akamaru let out a little whimper of encouragement. Everything was silent for a very, _very_ long time.

"I…will trust your judgment of Emiko and Jiro, Kiba," Lee spoke up suddenly.

Everyone turned to stare at the Green Beast of Konoha.

"What! Lee, they _can't _be trusted, they're the _Sound!_" Kankurou cried in rage.

"I trust Kiba with my _life_, Kankurou," this time, Shino was the one to speak. "I've been in his team for years…and he hasn't let me down. I trust his instincts."

Kiba looked at his teammate, his eyes wide. Rarely did Shino speak a sentence _this _long.

"Whoa, Shino…man, that was….strangely nice to hear, considering it was from your mouth…" Kiba still stared at the bug-guy.

"Shut up…" Shino said quickly.

"Psh! Fine, fine!" Kankurou drawled. "…But don't come crawling for help from the Sand if Emiko comes and stabs you in the back."

Kiba grinned. "No way, I wouldn't do that."

"Good."

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"Oh, dears, thank you for keeping watch over me the night when the Sound nins were attacking!" Aunt Midori crushed both Neji and Ten Ten into a tight hug.

"T-That's okay, Aunt Midori!" Ten Ten was a bit surprised by the hug.

To Neji's relief, Aunt Midori let go of them now.

"I will miss you guys so much!" the old lady said gently.

"We will too," Ten Ten smiled and leaned over to give Aunt Midori another hug.

After that, Aunt Midori let go of Ten Ten and proceeded to give the very uncomfortable Hyuuga yet _another _hug.

"…Good luck with your relationship…" the old lady whispered into Neji's ear without Ten Ten hearing.

Neji stiffened. How did _she _know? The Hyuuga just stiffened and nodded as she released him from the hug.

"Thank you…for everything," Neji said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

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Naruto and Hinata were both already inside the carriage that was prepared for them.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, let's you and me come here again sometime soon, just the two of us, okay?" Naruto told the girl excitedly.

"I-I…would love that, N-Naruto-kun…" the Hyuuga heir blushed when Naruto's hand brushed lightly against hers.

Then, the carriage door swung open, showing a bewildered Shikamaru. _So much _for a romantic moment.

"Oy, Shikamaru! I was getting intimate with my girlfriend here!" Naruto cried out in dismay (while Hinata reddened like crazy).

"Yea, sorry, sorry….Have you two seen Temari anywhere?" Strangely, the Nara didn't look lazy today. More like, panicky.

Naruto and Hinata shook their heads.

"Why, you had a fight with your girlfriend?" Naruto asked in a triumphant tone that said 'you-had-a-fight-with-your-girlfriend-and-I-didn't –hahaha'.

"No, I'll explain to you later, okay?" and with that, Shikamaru strode off.

"H-He…looked like he was in quite in a h-hurry, didn't he…" Hinata remarked quietly after the Nara was gone.

"I wonder what that was about…" Naruto wondered aloud.

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By about ten in the morning, everyone was already in their carriages…everyone except Shikamaru and Temari, that is. The Nara was desperate to see Temari before he left for Konoha, but he couldn't find her _anywhere_. He'd looked in all of the carriages, the hot springs, and even the souvenir shop. Temari was nowhere to be found.

The people in the carriages were waiting impatiently for Shikamaru to find Temari and bring her back, so they could go. The Nara's footsteps thumped continuously on the ground as he ran, his eyes searching for any sign of the blonde hair that he liked so much…

"Aunt Midori, have you seen Temari?" Shikamaru leaned over the counter, where the old lady was working.

"I'd thought you'd already left, Shikamaru!" the old lady exclaimed, surprised. "…Temari? Hmm…I gave her back the keys to her room a while ago…she said she'd forgotten something…"

Shikamaru didn't need to hear anymore. "Thanks, Aunt Midori!"

"You're welcome, my boy!"

At last, Shikamaru found himself again in front of Room 002 of the Konoha Hot Springs. He could still remember the time when he had just come here and stood in front of this very room…to find soon after that the occupant of the room was none other than Temari. The Nara leaned on the door, and heard soft crying sounds.

There was no mistake about it. It was Temari. Slowly raising his hand, he knocked…once, twice… After a moment of silence, the door opened for him. There stood Temari, smiling, as carefree as she could be…like nothing was wrong.

Shikamaru stepped in and closed the door behind him.

"…Temari…is anything wrong?" the Nara asked, a bit awkwardly.

"Oh, no no….nothing's wrong…are we ready to go?" Temari grinned and turned away from him, about to go out the door.

He quickly grabbed her wrist. "Wait, Temari…."

She stopped without turning around. She didn't _want _to turn around. She was afraid that she would cry.

"Hmm?" Temari asked in a casual voice.

Even though he was the one who'd said 'wait', Shikamaru hadn't really planned about what he was going to say.

"….I…you…." Shikamaru coughed a little, and then resumed his normal tone. "…Well, actually, what were you doing up here? Everyone's waiting for you, you know…"

This time, Temari _did _turn around. No longer were her face all-smiles, like before. She looked sad, and her eyes were damp.

"I…came back up here…I just wanted to say goodbye to the room…I mean…all the memories…" now, she looked away again, and continued in a colder voice. "…You know, 'cause you and I are over and everything…"

Shikamaru froze. She couldn't _possibly _think that all this was _over, _could she? After all they'd been through together... The Nara placed both of his hands firmly on the Sand shinobi's shoulders.

"…Woman, who _said _we were over?"

Temari looked up at him, the words '_logic_' clearly written all over her face.

"…Long distance relationships never work," she replied coldly.

"How'd you know?"

"…I just know…"

"…No, Temari…" he squeezed her shoulders a bit tighter. "…You _can't _know that stuff…we haven't tried it out…"

She didn't reply. She was using up all her energy just to hold back the tears. The Nara noticed this, and pulled her into a gentle hug.

"Cry if you want, woman, but we're _not _over…"

And so, Temari cried into Shikamaru's shoulders while her rubbed her head, like an adult would do to a little girl.

"…Hey, woman….you're going to miss me _that _much, huh," Shikamaru teased, trying to lighten up the mood.

This earned him a hit on his chest.

"N-No! You!" Temari said this in between sobs and all the thumping.

Shikamaru smoothed down her hair again.

"Don't be _too _sad, Temari…I'll go visit you as often as I can in the Sand…or you can come visit me…if you _really_ think about it, our villages aren't _that _far from each other," this time, the Nara said it in a more gentle tone.

The crying was lessening now. Temari determinedly wiped away her tears for the _last _time, and looked up into Shikamaru's eyes.

"…I'm sorry…for doubting that you'd continue with this relationship…" she said softly.

"T-That's okay…" Shikamaru reddened a little. "That's okay…"

Neither of them spoke for a long time. They just looked at each other. Then, Temari broke the silence with something unexpected for Shikamaru.

"…If I find out that you're cheating on me…." She gave him a ferocious look. "…I, _not _Kankurou or Gaara, will _kill _you."

Somehow, the thought of Temari killing him struck Shikamaru as being scarier than Kankurou's puppets or Gaara's sand. The Nara rose up his hands in defense.

"Hey! I didn't even _do _anything, woman!"

"…Answer me, _are _you going to cheat on me?"

Well, departing or not, Temari was Temari. Sharp, straight-to-the-point, as always.

"No…" Shikamaru practically squeaked.

Temari let out a satisfied grin. "Good…"

Then, she leaned up and gave the Nara a peck on the lips.

"…That's for our goodbye kiss," she said cheekily. "…And if you want more, you _have _to come visit me at the Sand or else!"

Shikamaru gave her a cool grin. "Yea, I _promise_ I will…"

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"Hey, everyone, look, that's Shikamaru coming back with Temari!" Ino cried, pointing out of her carriage (which consisted of Shino, Chouji, and Kiba).

"…It's about time," Kiba grumbled. "…I bet that sly Nara was making out with her, that's why it took so long…"

"…You bet?" Chouji perked up, interested, and popped another chip in his mouth.

Ino looked thoughtful now. "…Actually, I wouldn't put it past Shikamaru…that guy looks lazy, but he'd definitely do something like that…"

Shino nodded in agreement.

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In Neji, Ten Ten, and Lee's carriage, Lee had also noticed the commotion.

"…It looks like Temari has been found," he said.

Neji nodded and Ten Ten leaned back on her seat.

"…Yea, but I don't think that's the only thing that's delay our trip now…look at that," Ten Ten remarked, and then pointed out of her carriage window.

Neji and Lee looked out of the window just as their teammate had instructed. They could see the carriage that parked a little bit to their left. Gaara was leaning over the window, talking to the tons of girls that had come crowding around the redhead's carriage. All of the girls looked tearful, like they couldn't take the fact that the redheaded pimp was leaving.

A short-haired girl even walked right over to Gaara and handed him a bouquet of red roses!

"…Well, _that _was quite a farewell," Ten Ten stated, her eyes wide.

Neji and Lee couldn't agree more.

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Good moments had the tendency to pass away quickly. And, in no time at all, the Konohas found themselves back in their village. Tsunade and Kakashi were the ones to come and welcome back the young Konoha shinobis from their one-week vacation. The two adults would _never _have anticipated what they would see.

For a first, Kakashi was _most ultimately _surprised when he saw that Sakura was walking hand-in-hand with Sasuke, and that the Uchiha was making no attempt to pull away. In contrast, he looked rather pleased with himself. The leader of Team 7 was even more surprised to see that Naruto was not bopping Sasuke over the head by now (because Sakura was holding his hand), but rather, the fox-boy had his arm draped over the shy Hyuuga heir, Hinata.

_'Aa…little boys and little girls grow up…I'm proud…' _the silver-haired nin thought, a smile forming behind his mask.

Tsunade, being the Hokage and all, noticed all this and more. She noticed how Neji was so tender with Ten Ten; she could practically _sense _their feelings in the air…All this, it _almost _made her miss being a teenager.

The Fifth saw the look in the Nara boy's eyes; the distant look that told her that he had _finally _found something…someone that meant more to him than anything. As for the rest of the people, they didn't look _quite _as occupied, but they were content and happy, telling her that the vacation had went well.

"Hey, guys, welcome back to Konoha," Tsunade smiled genuinely at every one of them.

It was funny how a seven-day vacation could change _so much. _

**The End**

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**Joyce: **Wow, and it's ended. I don't know what else to say, other than that I'm really happy with everyone who's taken their time to review, and read my chapters…_Thank you_, for sticking with me all the way through these 26 chapters. I am _extremely _grateful to all of you…:')…One more thing…I'm going to be doing drawings for this story…lol, just for the fun of it, you know….going to post it sometime later in my dA account…if you guys wanna see, the URL is on my page...the pictures aren't there now, but later they'll be (when I finish) :)…so watch it if you wanna…Oh, and I'm going to enter 10th grade this Monday, so wish me luck! XD

**_To xxxShootingStarxxx:_** I'm glad you found it funny:D Thanks for reviewing!

**_To The8thSin:_** Lol, funny review! XD Thanks for sticking with me and reading! (hug)

**To Mimiru-Sama:** Yea, lol, Ramen is cute, right:D Thank you!

**_To PanPan:_** Hahahahaha, rofl, its funny to hear that Neji's perverted thoughts are keeping you going:D

**_To Secily:_** WOW! I'm so happy to hear that you like my story, and my style of writing:D Thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks VERY, VERY much for your encouraging review:D It is really one of my favorite reviews. :)

**_To OnEcRaZyGaL:_** Yea, hahahaha, Gaara _does _seem cruel at times, right? Lol, but he's still nice :D Thanks for the review!

**_To xXxReixXx:_** Oooh, you're jealous of 3 girls hanging on to Gaara, huh? Lol, I am too :D

**_To Jester12:_** Yah! Da Pimp of Da Sand ROX! XD

**_To BlackMageRose13:_** Thanks for reviewing:D I'm glad you liked how I made Gaara in this story..:D…and the stalker's stopped stalking! Yay! Thanks for asking :D:D:D.

**_To MyNameIsMyName:_** Thank you for saying my story is awesome! I don't' know if I'm going to write more…:S 'Cause I'm entering tenth grade and all…but I will try to:D Thanks for your review:D

**_To Kurisuta-Chan:_** Lol, I'm glad you liked the story line. Thank you:D

**_To NeyugnNosila:_** Yay! Glad you enjoyed my story. :)

**_To frozenangel1992:_** Yea, Sakura and Sasuke is cute, right? XD I'm glad you liked it, 'cause I like it too! ;)

**_To pau-of-the-desert:_** Yea, I TOTALLY agree with you that Gaara is SO cute! Yay for Gaara! XD

**_To lunarangel:_** Well, what can I say…I'm going to really, really miss reading your long, entertaining reviews:D It's nice to know that there's someone who actually takes their time and reads my story and takes their time to comment on it! I am eternally grateful to you for all this, and more! Thank you! (hug)

**_To TheGurlWithNoName:_** Since you said you're going to miss reading this…:')..I'm going to miss reading your reviews too! I loved reading your reviews and I think they help me a lot. Thank you:)

**_To moonlightpath:_** Lol, yea, I kind of feel sorry for those bachelors and bachelorettes too:D Thanks for all your support:)

**_To little wolf blossom:_** Yesh, yesh, yesh, we could just hug Gaara together because he's so cute, right? XD…Glad you liked the plot:D

**_To Kurenai Chinoumi:_** Yay, I'm delighted you liked my chapters! Thanks!

**_To GaArA LuVeR:_** …And, judging from your name, you must like Gaara! XD Yay for Gaara! XD…Yay, I'm glad you reviewed:D

**_To Zuan:_** Ya! Sasuke x Sakura is forever cute, I agree. :)

**_To senx2:_** …And you, girl! Thanks for reading till the end and reviewing…and even adding me on MSN! Lol, you're a great person to chat with, and you're a great source of encouragement to me. I must forever thank you:D

**_To lexy499:_** Yay! Thank you for every review that you've submitted:D

**_To Fire Blazing Chan S.E.:_** Aww, yea, Akamaru and Ramen are cute, aren't they:D…Thank you, thank you!

**_To HarunoSakura's tears:_** Lol, glad you liked the Gaara pimp part, lol! I'm going to miss your reviews too. :')

**_To InuyashaObsessed101:_** Yea, the dog love scene…glad you liked:)

**_To Hiei's Cute Girl:_** Hahahaha, I'm glad you liked what Gaara was doing:D

**_To pei-chan:_** Lol, yea, personally, I also don't like guys who use girls and dumped them! Lol, thanks for your review!

**_To Mochi 3ingGirl:_** Yea…I agree! So cute :D Thanks! You review a lot, and I'm glad! (hug)

**_To neko-leaf:_** Hahahaha, glad you liked Neji in a braid! I was giggling, thinking of that too! Lol, and yea, he NEEDS Clorox whipe to clean out his brain! Hmm..and you asked what Hinata was wearing…I really haven't thought about that…but I guess she can be wearing a two-piece swimsuit...a purple two-piece:D

**_To NarutosGirl52:_** Aww, you're so sweet! Thanks for the encouraging review:)

**_To minoko-chan:_** XD, Sorry for leaving you hanging! I hope you're satisfied with this last chapter! Thanks for all your support:D

**_To MisSs005:_** Hahahaha, yea, glad you liked the Gaara-being-a-pimp part:D

**_To Dragon Man 180:_** …I'm going to miss hearing from you in your reviews:')…You're one of my regulars and …I'm so glad you stuck with me all the way through:')…Glad you liked Gaara the pimp! Lol..:D

**_To Latouya:_** XD Glad you liked the bachelor/bachelorette parts! XD

**_To The Shadow Alchemist: _**Aww, thank you:D

…And Farewell. :')


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